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Making a Big Adjustment

Denise Flaim | Animal House

February 26, 2002

START TALKING about chiropractic and animals, and you soon stumble on a knot of controversy as stubborn as any backache.

Though many holistic-minded vets believe that chiropractic benefits animals just as it does humans - by relieving joint trauma that, in turn, relieves nerve pressure and pain - the American Veterinary Medical Association has not taken a formal position on chiropractic. In 1999, however, it formed a Task Force on Alternative and Complementary Therapies to explore the subject further.

Meanwhile, some vets are offering chiropractic, along with other "alternative" therapies, such as acupuncture and homeopathy. But because veterinary schools do not teach chiropractic, vets need to complete a separate course of study with the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association, which certifies them.

Though some vets - just like some human doctors - may doubt its efficacy, there is no real debate over whether chiropractic is a harmful treatment for animals, if used by a trained vet. (Or at least no more debate than there is in general over chiropractic, which is still dismissed in some quarters as quackery.)

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But there is an ongoing discussion about just who should perform adjustments - vets or chiropractors, which the AVCA also certifies. Or both? Most states have laws prohibiting people chiropractors from practicing on animals without veterinary referral. New York has the most restrictive position of all: Chiropractors can't adjust animals at all, vet or no vet. Period.

One lightning rod for this controversy is Daniel Kamen, an Arlington Heights, Ill., chiropractor and the author of several animal chiropractic books.

Practicing chiropractic since 1981, Kamen has traveled the country giving hands-on seminars on how vets, chiropractors, massage therapists and even owners can adjust their animals. The result? Lawsuits, injunctions and subpeonas from veterinary boards, stating Kamen is practicing veterinary medicine without a license.

Kamen says the litigation is economics-based: Vets just don't want chiropractors or others cashing in on what appears to be a lucrative revenue stream. His critics reply it is irresponsible to teach chiropractic to laypeople.

If all this isn't complicated enough, there are those who advocate a hybrid chiropractic process called Veterinary Orthopedic Manipulation, or VOM. It was developed by Seattle veterinary surgeon William Inman - who once lectured with Kamen.

Using a spring-loaded instrument called an accelerometer or activator - commonly used in traditional chiropractic - a practitioner tests the animal's spine for reflexes that indicate subluxations, the chiropractic term for pressure or trauma to nerves caused by joint misalignment. Then the accelerometer is used, instead of hands, to give an adjustment. Inman says the device uses minimal force, making the adjustment gentler and safer than classic manual technique.

Inman, for his part, is no stranger to controversy either: In 1995, his veterinary license was suspended for five years by Washington state's Veterinary Board of Governors, which questioned his record-keeping and competence, but did not impose penalties for use of the VOM technique. A year later, Inman founded the International Association of Veterinary Chiropractitioners, or IAVC, which he says has taught 6,400 vets and chiropractors how to use VOM.

One of them is Bruce Levine, a Syosset chiropractor.

"VOM is perfect for most cats and dogs," he says, adding that he learned the technique, which he does not formally practice, because he was curious about how to adjust his own animals. "It's very hard to manually manipulate my own dogs and cats because of the positioning involved." Levine says VOM delivers "two or three little clicks" to free nerve interference. "And animals generally love it."

In the end, the controversies over Kamen and Inman are not so much about what they are teaching, but to whom they are teaching it. And regardless of what technique is used, the best and only option for New Yorkers is to find a vet certified to practice it.

Marc Franz of Woodbury Animal Hospital in Woodbury, who offers chiropractic as part of his practice, says any animal candidate for chiropractic first should be examined by a vet to eliminate a possible underlying medical condition, such as a tumor, causing pain or lameness.

"Every cat and dog out there has subluxations," he explains. But most of the adjustments he does are on agility dogs, who injure and misalign themselves - much like human athletes.