What are the Primary Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Equine Athletes?

Chiropractic care has many benefits for equine athletes. The primary goal of a chiropractic adjustment is to affect the neurology of the animal, not just alter mechanics. However, restoring proper motion of a joint allows the neurology to control the joint properly, thus altering mechanics to a more normal state. In other words, you cannot affect one, without affecting the other.

Each joint, and the capsules surround the joints, contain millions of sensory nerve receptors. These receptors are responsible for what we call proprioception, which is the ability of the brain to know the position of the body in space. Take into consideration, a field sobriety test. How is it possible for a person to close their eyes, and still be able to touch their nose with their finger? This is due to proprioception! The sensory nerve receptors within the joint and joint capsule, relay positional information to the brain. Thus allowing the brain to not only know what that joint position is, but also enables the brain to send the proper signals out to the muscles that control the joint, in order to move it appropriately for the task at hand.

What does this have to do with chiropractic care? Everything! If a joint is fixated in any way, then it is unable to move properly. If it is not able to move properly, then it is…