TOPLINE
WELLNESS
|
TOPLINE
WELLNESS |
|
What can help my pet's condition?
Flower Essences Homeopathics Essential Oils Wellness Protection Program Graceful Aging Bone and Joint Weight Management
|
The Importance of Topline: a healthy long lifeBy Sondra St. Clair, OMD, ND, VOMC Living a healthy long life is what
we all want for our pets. The
quality and length of their lives has much to do with addressing small problems
early rather than allowing them create disease by accumulating over time.
Aging is a natural biological process but disease associated with aging
is not. It is possible to age
gracefully with few or no physical ailments.
This means no arthritis, digestive, kidney, liver or heart problems, less
fatigue and greater continued playfulness -- living pain and disease free. The key to promoting quality of
life with longevity is a combination of good nutrition, healthy living and early
detection of minor imbalances. If
your pet is already experiencing illness or pain there are many paths to
wellness. We conventionally use
drug therapy when our pet shows signs of illness or pain. Despite the advances in medicine, both people and pets often
don’t always fully recover and may experience side effects from drugs or
surgery. Out of frustration,
dissatisfaction and despair, many people have turned to natural health care when
appropriate and are doing so with very good results.
We’ve seen positive results in ourselves, now we’re doing the same
for our pets. Here I’ll first
discuss what can be done for some common afflictions in older poodles and then
how to detect subclinical imbalances and resolve silent problems before they
turn into disease. Top Line tells the story of our
pets’ lives. Imagine an older dog
and his topline. You have
observed visible changes in the mid-back. You
know that if your dog is having rear end problems he is tucking under in the
hindquarters. The topline we see in
a senior dog is in direct correlation with his spinal health and overall health.
Spinal health is the story of major and minor traumas because every part
of the body communicates through the spinal column.
Age-related diseases are often an accumulation of minor traumas to the
spine. These minor traumas over time compromise blood flow and nerve
signals and thus nutrition to body areas and organs. In essence, the area or organ is starved.
Changes in topline tell the keen observer what organs and body systems
are affected. It would be common sense then to
restore nutrition to the compromised area.
Without proper nerve and blood supply it is virtually impossible to heal.
The body has amazing innate healing abilities regardless of age, but
needs the proper nutrition to do so. We
place a lot of importance upon nutrition these days, but if these wonderful
supplements aren’t getting to the body parts that need them, then it doesn’t
much matter. The pathways of food,
blood and nerve distribution must be opened first.
This means working with the topline. In older dogs the primary causes
of back problems are arthritis, disc disorders, and spinal myelopathy.
A slipped disc results when the gelatinous shock absorbers between the
bony joints of the spinal column shift. But
a slipped disc usually occurs over time when a small misalignment of the spine
eventually creates inflammation and muscle tension pulling the disc to cause
slippage and inflammation. Limping and hindquarter weakness may develop as a
consequence. Standard treatment includes anti-inflammatory and steroid
drugs, but results are mediocre. Unless
the underlying structural problem is resolved, inflammation and pain persist.
When a pet has a back problem, think of fixing the topline.
The best technology for working with the topline is Veterinary Orthopedic
Manipulation (VOM). VOM is a safe
and gentle technique that resolves the structural problem and poses neither
trauma to already sensitive and inflamed tissue nor risk to the bone or tissue
itself. It can be used on
very small dogs (even birds with their fragile hollow bones) as well as frail
elderly dogs. VOM benefits older
animals with joint stiffness and back problems, commonly the result of a
lifetime of minor trauma from jumping and running.
Such small injuries are not apparent at the time they occur, but they add
up and may eventually slow an animal down. Vertebral disc disease, usually
caused by arthritis, is an affliction to which many breeds can be particularly
susceptible. As tissue becomes
inflamed, animals develop pain and stiffness in the hindquarters.
This can progress to paralysis if not treated.
By increasing circulation and nerve impulses to the affected spinal joint
with VOM, inflammation, pain and stiffness disappear. Degenerative diseases that affect
older dogs can be helped too. A
degenerative disease is one that progresses and worsens over time.
Examples are diabetes, epilepsy, congested livers, immune disorders,
kidney disease, or any organ or body system to which the spine communicates –
that means every body part. If a condition is severe, there may be an enormous portion of
the organ that is not functioning and it will have difficulty repairing itself.
But again, supplying food to the starved organ is the only way it can
repair. Drugs may be necessary and may help the symptoms but will
never repair the underlying cause of a disease.
Here is where VOM comes in. Creating
that healthy topline by supplying the organs with necessary nutrients regardless
of their condition, gives your pet the chance to recover completely or improve.
I worked with a toy poodle with a “sluggish liver” and abnormal liver
readings since birth. Her topline
indicated that her spine was misaligned in the mid back where the nerves travel
to the liver. Working in that area and opening the nutrition flow triggered her
body’s natural healing process. Once the nerve signals and blood vessels that
flowed to the liver had improved function, her hepatic numbers became within
normal range. The same principle
can be applied to any degenerative condition.
And remember, even if your dog is older, the body’s innate ability to
heal will be stimulated with VOM. Small problems in younger dogs
tend to go unnoticed until they become bigger problems. This is because dogs don’t tell you when they hurt.
Their nervous systems are different from ours.
They lack the recurrent meningeal nerve that we have.
The lack of this nerve sending numerous pain signals made functioning
possible while they were injured or recovering from an injury.
It is one reason they survived in the wild long ago before they were
domesticated, but it also is why their symptoms are so subtle.
We need technology able to identify problems before they progress.
Since we want to prevent a minor problem from becoming a serious problem
how do we find out if something is wrong? Western veterinary medicine has
many complex tests that provide a rough picture of health.
However, when tests are read, there is a range of normal levels is
provided. Unless your pet’s
levels are out of range, he or she is considered healthy.
Whether your pet is functioning optimally may or may not be the case
based upon those results. What is
optimal for one animal may not be optimal for another as each breed has its
special physiological characteristics and your pet is an individual with its
unique health balance. In human
medicine, it is recognized by alternative medical practitioners that by the time
a condition is diagnosed with standard western medical testing, the organ has
progressed to a level of at least 40% dysfunction.
More often it is 60%. The
same applies to animals. The key
then is early detection of minor imbalances. VOM has the technology to evaluate
this objectively by stimulating spinal reflexes. The VOM practitioner is able to observe healthy nerve
communication or dysfunction in each vertebral segment of the spine.
Many people confuse VOM with chiropractics, but the two are significantly
different. VOM is a hybrid of a
classical veterinary approach to neurological dysfunction and chiropractic care.
It is more precise and objective in evaluation as well as in treatment.
Many people are familiar with chiropractic and its uses for skeletal
misalignment. VOM is a special type
of neuronal “adjusting” developed for pets based upon the lack of the
recurrent meningeal nerve. Because of this distinction, VOM adjustments are more
powerful and effective than standard chiropractic manipulation.
Accomplishing much more than just aligning the spine, VOM taps directly
into the nervous system and benefits not only the structure but the deeper
mechanisms that affect circulation and nerves as well.
And, only a few sessions are needed because of the way VOM quickly
retrains the body. Often our pets have chronic
conditions such as allergies and epilepsy in addition to “age-related”
diseases such as arthritis, disc disease, liver, kidney and heart diseases and
eye conditions. Musculoskeletal conditions include slipped disc and patellar
luxation. These and more can be
resolved with natural therapy like VOM. For example, with a slipped disc,
back pain, or patellar (knee) luxation a minor adjustment can quickly provide
relief and your pet can avoid the risks of surgery. Patellar luxation is very common. I find that it is often the result of a low back problem
creating a muscle spasm. This spasm
pulls on the ligaments and tissues that surround the patella causing it to slip
out of place. Patellar surgery is
commonly performed on one knee only to be required later on the other knee.
This indicates the problem is most likely not the knee.
It’s probably coming from the back.
VOM technology realigns the patella and corrects the back problem.
Most pets can avoid surgery. Many dogs suffer from slight
misalignments undetected by X-rays. Though
subtle, they have the potential to upset the normal biomechanics of motion and
cause inflammation and degeneration of tissue.
These situations are often resolved by gentle VOM.
Hindquarter lameness, of unknown origin, is an example.
Either the back, hips or the hind legs may be involved. Frequently the pet owner believes the cause is arthritis, yet
X-rays are negative. Similar to
sciatica in people, a pinched nerve can cause pain or reduce nerve supply to a
leg. VOM is also typically used to
treat dogs for musculoskeletal problems stemming from hip dysplasia, arthritic
changes, and injury. Dogs hit by
cars, for instance, may suffer joint misalignments in addition to more obvious
effects of trauma such as bone fractures or lacerations.
Even the constant tugging on a leash can create a problem in the neck
that may benefit from VOM. Epilepsy can result from a
misalignment of the first cervical vertebra located at the top of the neck.
Conventionally breed genetics are considered one cause, but perhaps it is
not the genes themselves but the structure of the head and neck of the breed.
Even continual tugging on a leash can even cause misalignment at this
location. I’ve worked with
pets that have suffered terrible seizures and were on numerous medications.
Despite conventional drug therapy, often at great expense, the symptoms
didn’t change or only improved moderately meanwhile leaving the pet drowsy and
disengaged. This was the case for
one dog whose neck was severely misaligned, putting pressure on the nerves and
brain signals. After several VOM sessions, in cooperation with the owner’s
veterinarian, medication was reduced slowly and carefully.
Over a period of six months his medication was completely stopped and the
pet was seizure free. As an exhibitor, the benefits are amazing. Even the slightest misalignment or tension is reflected in gait and presence. Though imbalance may not necessarily be apparent to the owner, it is very seldom that I see a dog with out a misalignment. After all, dogs play, jump, twist, run, etc. and something is bound to happen. Even a slight misalignment can affect topline and topline is critical to movement. Since every muscle movement is fed from nerves running from the spine, topline will affect gait. Even if your dog moves well, once your dog receives VOM treatment you will notice that he will perform better, be more engaged, animated, have a more fluid gait, and he’ll have that extra special presence. You get an edge over the competition and you have a healthy pet for years to come. Veterinary Orthopedic Manipulation addresses many conditions that can affect your pet. In combination with herbs, supplements and diet, your pet can enjoy an amazing response to this natural approach to health care.
|
|
Send mail to drsondra@toplinewellness.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|