While many of us have seen a chiropractor for our aches and pains, did you know that animals can see a chiropractor too? In this episode, Laura interviews Dr Lauren Alexander, co-founder of Champion Chiropractic Clinic. Lauren explains how similar chiropractic care is for both humans and animals, how it can improve overall quality of life and how to tell if your animal companion could use a visit. From snakes to horses, and all animals in between, animal chiropractic care might be just what your pet needs.
For more information check out:
www.championchiropracticclinic.com
www.facebook.com/championchiropracticofarkansas
www.animalchiropractic.org
ivca.de
While many of us have seen a chiropractor for our aches and pains, did you know that animals can see a chiropractor too? In this episode, Laura interviews Dr Lauren Alexander, co-founder of Champion Chiropractic Clinic. Lauren explains how similar chiropractic care is for both humans and animals, how it can improve overall quality of life and how to tell if your animal companion could use a visit. From snakes to horses, and all animals in between, animal chiropractic care might be just what your pet needs.
For more information check out:
www.championchiropracticclinic.com
www.facebook.com/championchiropracticofarkansas
www.animalchiropractic.org
ivca.de
Hello and welcome to For The Love of Nature, a podcast where we tell you everything you need to know about nature and probably more than you wanted to know. I'm Laura and there's no Katie this episode. Um, but instead I'm thrilled to invite an old friend to the podcast to be able to share some of what she does with you all. It's really exciting. Lauren Alexander, you can say, hi, Lauren. Hello. We're excited to have Lauren on because she's an animal chiropractor or practices animal chiropractic care. So we're gonna, like, we have had on other guests, we're just gonna go through some questions, very casual. And I'm excited. I go to a regular chiropractor, so I'm like kind of intrigued of how be different. Oh, awesome. All right. Are you ready? I'm ready. Okay, sounds good. Okay, so Lauren. How did you become interested in animal chiropractic care? And was there a specific experience that you had that led to it?
Lauren:So I would say it's actually kind of multiple factors. So I started going to the chiropractor, like in my late teens. Just her some random like low back pain. And, and I saw the difference that it made for me and initially kind of thought, you know, I'm a big animal lover. So thought, you know, why can't animals, you know, experience the same? And then I actually came across, um, just on YouTube. I was looking up different career fields and came across animal chiropractic. And actually the person that taught me. In school for the animal chiropractic was the video that I saw was her. Oh, cool. Which is so cool to see. Like come around was just so, so interesting. But I saw it and I thought it was super interesting and ultimately it led me to, uh, that's the whole reason I went to chiropractic school was just to do animal chiropractic, so I learned the whole human side of it. But the end goal was to do the animal stuff. Gotcha. Yeah,
Laura:cuz I guess last time as just a bit of background for listeners, Lauren and I met at the Little Rock Zoo cause you were a volunteer there, so I knew you were an animal person, but you hadn't gotten into the chiropractic area. Right. But you were doing like human health. Right?
Lauren:Right. So yeah, I uh, I kind of was exploring different animal fields cuz I wasn't sure. I knew that that was something that I wanted to do. But I wasn't quite sure which avenue. And so, you know, I got to do the internship to realize that just animal husbandry wasn't something that wasn't the only field that I want to go to. I was very interested in doing something in involved with healthcare. Um, makes sense. Yeah. And found the animal chiropractic and it literally has been the best thing ever.
Laura:So cool. So can you expand on that a little? Like how, what's your journeyman, like, what kind of education and training do you have to do to do this job? Yeah, so
Lauren:that's a big misconception actually in our community. A lot of people think, oh, you, it's just a certificate. You maybe go for a month or so and you can do it. And when I tell people the education requirements, cause they think it's a really cool career, and they're like, Ooh, I wanna do this. I say, okay, cool. And they're like, how much school do you do? And I say, well prepare for about nine years of school. And they're like, what? And I said, well, and it all differs on your state. So in Arkansas you have to be a veterinarian or you have to be a chiropractor in order to Okay, pull to do it. So, Even to go to chiropractic school to practice that, you've gotta have a four year bachelor's degree. So then I got my bachelor's degree in organismal biology, so, And then I went on to chiropractic school in Florida where I went to Palmer. Once I graduated there, I went on to Options for Animals in Kansas. And it's about a six month course. You go about once a month and you're there for, um, you're there Wednesday to Sunday. And you're doing a lot of in classroom stuff. Oh, okay. Yeah. And then you're doing your practical stuff. So you gotta go about once a month and then at the end they're gonna test you like crazy. And a lot of people don't understand that, you know, not only are you do you have to go to the school and you've gotta do the education there. You then have a, um, either I B C A, which is the International Veterinary Chiropractic Examination or I'm sorry, association. They'll come and test you from Europe. Or you can have the A, B, C A, so there's two governing bodies there that will certify you. So it's a big, it's a big process, but it's so worth it because. You have these organizations testing you to make sure that you truly know what you're doing so people aren't just going out there and doing whatever they think is chiropractic.
Laura:Totally. Yeah. That sounds terrifying, especially when you're dealing with like spinal cord. Yeah, yeah. Like you don't want just them pressing somewhere and just accidentally breaking some animal
Lauren:spine. Right. Chiropractic is extremely safe, but in the wrong hands it can be done very, very ineffectively and dangerously.
Laura:Yeah, I can imagine. So basically what you're saying is, so you went to human chiropractic school, so you could have done human stuff, but then you did your practicals all had to do with animals, which then led to you being able to take that certification.
Lauren:Yeah, so I, I went to the human chiropractic college so that I could get my doctorate in chiropractic. I actually practice and I still practice as a human chiropractor as well. And I went through there and you have to take your national boards, which there's five of those for, whoa. Yeah, there's five, there's five boards. So there's a lot of testing there. Once I, once I graduated there and I passed all my boards, I practiced for about a year just to human chiropractor, but I always knew I wanted to go and do the animal stuff. So as soon as I was able to, I started attending Options for Animals in Kansas. And like I said, once a month we went and we did in classroom stuff and then we were tested on different practicals and stuff. And at the very end of the program that's where you're gonna take your big final exam. And then that's where the I B C A came in and tested this as well with a big practical exam. So, You really, you, you're gonna have boards for both. So it's, yeah. It's a very intense program, but the school that I went to, they prepare you so well.
Laura:And so since you got certified in, like with the International Association, does that mean you're certified technically, like you could go practice in another country?
Lauren:Technically, I think yes, but my certification falls under my license, so. Gotcha. Um, with Arkansas and with any state, I only, unless I go and apply for another licensure somewhere in another state, I can only practice in the state of Arkansas. Gotcha.
Laura:That makes sense. Yeah. Well, were there any like major challenges or obstacles that you faced while establishing yourself as an animal chiropractor and how did you overcome'em? Sure.
Lauren:I think the hardest part initially was taking time away from, um, My human side to even be able to go and do the program cuz you're, you know, you're just getting started and you've gotta think about, you know, upcoming bills and everything. Right? Certification's not cheap. It's about a$7,000 certification to go and do. And so you're taking time away from your practice. So that was, that was a big part of just being able to financially, you know, miss about a week of work. Um, yeah, go up there and stay. I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised with the acceptance from the veterinary side here in Arkansas. Like I've had so many, um, especially equine vets really push patients my way and really co-managed care. So it's been amazing. I think the hardest part is just. Getting people that have animals to understand that we're much more than just musculoskeletal specialists. We're dealing with the nervous system. We're yeah. Every function in the body, whether it's allergy related to, um, gastrointestinal chiropractic can help with all of that. And so just the education, um, part has been the hardest just to overcome that. I'm not just here to help your horse if it's limping or something like that. Yeah.
Laura:That makes sense. Yeah. Because I feel like it's even like that sometimes with people. Oh yeah. People are like, well, well when do I go to the chiropractor versus somebody else? Right.
Lauren:And that too falls on the chiropractor to educate. And so that's the biggest thing. We as animal chiros and chiropractors in general, we just have to educate the public that we can offer so much more. Gotcha.
Laura:So, Then if you were doing your own thing with animal, with human chiropractic first, were you practicing in like a general practice or did you start with your own
Lauren:thing? Sure. So that was always the goal. Actually as soon as I graduated my husband and I, we were planning on opening our own. But I actually was an associate for about a year. And then once I left that position, I was a coverage doctor. And so what I would do was different clinics around in Arkansas that if a doctor needed to be away for medical leave or if they wanted to Oh, okay. And they would contact me and I would go and cover their practice. And so I did that for about a year. So I think two years I really was just doing the human side. Yeah.
Laura:And then when you switched to animals, Do you and your husband now own your own thing or are you with a practice? Yeah, we own
Lauren:our own practice here in Conway. So, um, what I've tried to do is still adjust a few people. Um, cause I do actually, I still enjoy that and there's quite a few, yeah, I still enjoy taking care of, but what I've done is about 90% of my practice is animal. And 10% would be people. And so we have Okay here in town and I can see people and animals usually in the mornings. And then I will take the afternoons to be out for farm calls.
Laura:Okay. That makes right. Pretty hard to bring a horse into the office. Yep. Yeah. I have worked
Lauren:where they, where they were able to haul to me, which a really fun experience is I'm across from a Taco Bell and someone did worse into the Taco Bell parking lot. So that was pretty, but uh, No, it's, it's been good. I do see quite a few dogs at the clinic. Um, that's, that's a big portion of my practice for the mornings. But yeah, we've been fortunate to be able to do that.
Laura:So cool. Okay, so then a little bit more, cuz I feel like some people might understand about chiropractic care, but let's like dive into the animal stuff. Sure. So can you explain the underlying principles of like animal chiropractic care in simple terms for listeners? Like what is it all about? Sure.
Lauren:So, and this was a big thing for me to learn as well, going into it. I thought, oh, this is gonna be so different than human chiropractic. It's the same. Even learning the pathologies, it, it was pretty much the same. Which was really cool because in chiropractic land and human chiropractic land, we not, I don't know if people understand this, but you know, the training you have to understand, you know, physiology. You have to understand pathology and so, you know, Getting well trained in that and how well it transitioned to the animal stuff cuz it's so similar was really helpful. But it's all based off of the nervous system. So as chiropractors what we are doing is we are motioning different segments in the spine and we are looking for restrictions and when what we are trying to do is remove. Restrictions in order to allow the nervous system to work at its best. And so Gotcha. You know, people can come in with a certain complaint and as chiropractors understanding the neurology of it, we can locate the area of subluxation that we think is related to the symptoms, and we can motion that and determine if that restriction is there. And that's what it's all about. It's all about being a functional neurologist and Yeah, subluxations. Yeah. And so just allowing the body to work at its best, because we understand that every cell in the body is controlled by the nervous system.
Laura:Right. And if you have pain, obviously you're feeling, yeah.
Lauren:Yeah. And the nervous system, you know, people come to us even for things not pain related, you know, people will come in because of. You know, allergies or come in because of gastrointestinal distress or things like that. Because that is, again, in our education we highly believe in educating people on, we aren't just here for neck and low back pain. We're here for the overall body. And that's one thing that really led me to chiropractic is it is holistic and that literally just means we're looking at the body as a whole. And human and animal chiropractic are exactly the same in that aspect.
Laura:It kind of reminds me in that way of like acupuncture where it's very holistic in that it's whole body looking
Lauren:at Yes. Acupuncture and chiropractic or and massage. They all like intertwine together.
Laura:Makes sense. Yeah. So what's a typical session like with one of your patients? Like are there certain techniques or tools be used that are different?
Lauren:You might hear some other words.
Laura:I'm sorry. Uh, no, it's okay. So
Lauren:really anything, um, that we do for animals and people can be the same. The biggest difference I would say with the human and animal side is there's not a table involved. So for, okay. When I'm adjusting a dog I am destabilization. So one hand is determining, you know, where is the area of restriction, and the other hand is providing support. To the dog. Um, okay. Now horses, they have more of an inherent stabilization, so I don't have to provide that. But dog, thank goodness. Yeah, right. I would have to be superwoman. Yeah. So dogs are very different. The adjustments need to be very, and even with horses, the adjustments need to be very, very gentle and very precise. Dogs already have so much motion in their spine. So the biggest thing that I need to do is make sure I'm stabilizing that animal and not putting in too much motion to create instability. Gotcha.
Laura:Yeah. Okay. So. And then, so since you're having sessions with your clients, like dogs, horses, all sorts of things, do animals experience similar musculoskeletal issues and neurological issues as humans? And do you have any examples of that? Yeah,
Lauren:um, it's really interesting. So one thing that I, um, and this is, this is again with our, with our theory on it, but. You know, people can experience neurological pain in the form of, you know, numbness and tingling in their hands. Mm-hmm. We can tell, we can relate that to the chiropractor and say, this is what I'm feeling Well with dogs, one way that we think that they're showing that is they're shaking the paws or they're constantly licking the paws. It's a way of like, Something's an irritant to, yeah. And we can determine that also by looking at like muscle atrophy and things on that side too, to tell us. And obviously X-ray as well. But yes the similarities are there. Disc issues, you know, I see a lot of disc issues. And we can adjust animals using traction just as well as we can, you know, do. Humans as well doing attraction technique for disc related. So we do see disc herniations, we do see radiculopathies. Everything is very similar and sometimes when I'm treating an animal I'm like, whoa, you know, this is crazy. But then I think back to the human side of it of how I would treat it. It's exactly the same, it's just a different technique on how we adjust. Now that is where it's totally different. And that again goes to, you know, understanding the angles of the spine and things like that. Just to get the technical side of it. But yeah, um, the pathologies are just tremendously similar. So, so treatment wise it's the same.
Laura:Yeah, no, and that makes sense. I mean, mammals are pretty similar. Body plants. Exactly. Yeah. I guess, right. They're just oriented a little bit different than we are. Yeah, yeah. We're,
Lauren:we're, we're upright. They're prone. So, you just have to think about that. And, um, and that's one thing I always tell people that question, you know, is chiropractic legit for animals? I'm like, well, just look at a human spine and look at an animal spine. It's the same thing. We're just orientated a little bit differently. Yeah.
Laura:Yeah. And they just can't say exactly, which I feel like would make it a thousand times harder. I feel like any kind of like veterinary medicine, anything dealing with animals or like pediatrics mm-hmm. Has to be the hardest.
Lauren:Cause I would say that animals can communicate with us. It's sometimes it's very subtle. So, you know, I, I tell people things to look for when I'm adjusting their animals, um, to show them like how they are communicating with us. So, for instance, when I just a person and I relieve some low back pain or neck pain, you know, they can be like, oh, that feels great. Well, with. With dogs, with horses, you can see licking. You can see chewing, you can see yawning. One cool thing I see whenever I finish adjusting a dog that's been in a lot of pain is they'll do a full body shake. That makes sense that if they're painful, you know, they don't really wanna move their bodies. Yeah. Yeah. These are things that I cue the owner in. I say, look for these things before we even start. And it's just so cool when they start happening cuz you can see those releases. Um, so yeah. Hey, it's just, it's very subtle and it takes a little bit to pick up on it, but it's there. So. Cool.
Laura:So you already said that there are a few common misconceptions and myths about that, like, you know, it's not just musculoskeletal, but are there any other common misconceptions that you've come across so far?
Lauren:Um, probably, I guess the biggest one, which is a pet peeve for a lot of chiropractors is a lot of stuff that's put out on TikTok and YouTube and things like that. You'll see, um, Chiropractors doing really fast. Human-like adjustments on animals and lots of pops and cliques and stuff like that. That's another big difference between the animal and human side. Humans are like, glow sticks, they crack right? They're fine. There's so much noise. With animals. There's not, there may be, um, you know, in horses sometimes in the cervical spine and the neck, you'll get some cavitations, which is that pop sound, but Okay. Really shouldn't pop like that. And so that's a, that's something that chiropractors like, that truly are practicing chiropractors the way that it should for animals cringe when we see that because. You should never take a joint out of normal range of motion. Um, yeah, always work in that normal range of motion. And it, a lot of it is for show, it's a lot of, it's for likes and things like that, but that's a big misconception and that's something that hopefully we can overcome. And just, you know, be the biggest thing is we need to be safe for the animals. Yeah. Yeah,
Laura:right. Yeah. I'd actually think I'd be pretty freaked out if all of a sudden you pop my cat's spine and I could hear it. I'd be like, is that normal?
Lauren:Yeah, it's, and it's not from what my, the training that I went through and, um, you know, I respect the people that taught me very much. I mean, this is the original program is what I went through. All the other programs are actually branches off from it. Uh Oh, cool. But yeah, I really, I really, um, you know, everything that they said made sense with the chiropractic training that I went through. And yeah, just with my clinical practice from what I've been doing, there is not a lot of pops and sounds, and you should be, if you're doing that, you're pushing way too hard on the animal.
Laura:Gotcha. Makes sense. Yes. Are there any particular animal species or breeds that you find more challenging or more interesting to work with? Cats. I bet I can only imagine what a cat spine must be like.
Lauren:I mean, they just find, we call it end range when we are take taking a joint right before we're going to adjust it. We call that the end range. Cats don't have it. It feels,
Laura:I, I mean, yeah, my cat, he's like a liquid. Um,
Lauren:but I, I've actually adjusted quite a few cats and they've been great. Um, there was one kitten that got. Unfortunately thrown out of a car and the people, oh yeah, it was a terrible, um, terrible thing, but the people behind it saw the person throw it out and they brought yeah, me and I adjusted it. And the kitten's been great ever since, but Aw, yeah. Um, cats are probably the hardest. I've had a lot of cool animals, so everything from like a snake. To, Ooh. Yeah. People would think snakes are hard and they, and they are, there's so many segments to, to check and there's any, just about every segment except for the upper cervical spine articulates with the ribs. So there's a lot going in there, but, I would say cats are the hardest just because they are so mobile and they're just slinky. I mean, they're just the range of motion hard.
Laura:Yeah. Have you done a ferret? Cuz I feel like ferrets
Lauren:would be so, oh, I feel like ferrets would be incredibly hard. No, I have not done one of those
Laura:yet. Okay. Because, yeah, I bet their range of motion too is like
Lauren:same. So our chiropractors, when we were for the human side, when we were in training, they told us. Your hardest patient is gonna be the gymnast that bending because you're, you're literally trying to put'em inside washer and you're cranking, cranking, cranking. I'm trying to find in range. Yeah. It's actually the people that are a little bit stiff or the easiest to adjust. So that really hyper mobile. Um, You know, segment SOEs are the hardest one. I feel like cats. Cats are pretty, pretty hard. But the cool thing about cats is you adjust'em like one time and they seem to be great for the rest of their life.
Laura:They just needed one pops. Yeah, one pop and they're done. Cool. Any that you're like, that are probable, or I guess on the opposite of that, what's been your easiest thing to work with animal wise? I
Lauren:would say it, it's a tie between dogs and horses. Just because I get a lot of like really well trained dogs that come in. Ones that work with like different sports and stuff like that. Yeah. They, they've probably been the easiest. Um, larger breed dogs are probably the easiest. And horses for the most part, it's been a really good experience. And their segments are so much larger, so, you know, you can really feel everything. So I'd say it's a tie between those two. Cool.
Laura:Are there any unique considerations or precautions that you need to take when you're working with different types of animals, like horses versus dogs versus exotic? Yeah.
Lauren:So the biggest precaution is. If we're not, if we're not thinking about, if there's, you know, a dog that maybe was hit by a car or something, obviously I'm always sending that to the vet first. Um, right. Making sure that there's no fractures or things like that. But the biggest precaution is probably mine and the handler's safety is what I'm looking at. Um, yeah. The horse, you know, just communicating with them that, hey, You need to be on the same side that I'm on so that we can communicate and making sure, you know, for a horse, I never adjust a horse in a stall. I always adjust a horse where they have the option to get away. So they have a way that they can get out. If something spooks'em, I'm not yeah, hurt the handler's not getting hurt. And then also for dogs, a big approach, you know, I take is when someone brings in a dog to my adjustment room. There's no table for the dog to get up on. We do everything in the floor and there's carpet and it's comfortable environment. So, you know, dogs come in and I tell the owner, you know, are you comfortable holding them? You know they are. And then what I say is a less. Less is more approach. I never wanna just grab the dog and start. Uh, yeah. I try as much hands off as I can, and when the dog kind of accepts what I'm trying to do, that's when we really start working. So it's just giving him the time and not rushing them, you know? Yeah. Um, that's probably one of the biggest things is just precaution, just listening to the animal and the cues that it's telling you. And so far, so good.
Laura:Yeah. Yeah, I imagine, right? It's a lot of nonverbal communication. Yeah. That you have to just be constantly like aware of. Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. Another little, little bit of a switch, but some health and wellbeing questions. Mm-hmm. Because I think a lot of people have questions about the validity of chiropractic care and like how does it actually help? So in your opinion, in what ways does chiropractic care contribute to an animal's overall health and quality of life?
Lauren:Sure. So, um, I'll just use like a case. For an example, I had an older dog that had just kind of given up on life. Um, they were like, you know, we're just not sure should we put'em down? And it, it was an older dog, but still had, you know, for the, for the age that it could be. It still had years of quality life that, that I would expect it could have. So they brought it in to me and we did some adjustments and the owner called me and told me, Hey, you've given me my puppy back. My puppy wants, Aww. Yeah. It's those things that I look for my puppy. Yeah. Play again. My puppy want, or my dog wants to go on walks again. You know, it's those things. So, you know, sometimes you know, the dogs. And it could be something as simple as an SI joint is restricted and they no longer can walk the way that they want to. So it's painful and they don't wanna do it anymore. So sometimes just, and I don't wanna simplify, but you know, sometimes just correcting that subluxation, uh, makes'em, wanna'em do it again, you know? Animals are so cool in the aspect of they actually wanna get out and move. You know, sometimes we gotta like be motivated. Yeah, yeah. You know, they don't, they're like, oh, my body feels great, let's go. And I tell people, a lot of times I'll adjust their animal and I say, okay, so for two days I need you to restrain them a little bit because you're not gonna believe me. But they're gonna try to do way too much. It's just like, yeah. We've been feeling crappy and all of a sudden we feel great. We try to do everything around
Laura:that. My chiropractor would reminds me of the same thing. Yes. Just as you, you always have to remember Laura, the girl who is in pain and make decisions based on that girl, not the girl the way you feel now. Yeah.
Lauren:And we can't, I can tell him, well that all day, every day and they're never gonna listen. Right?
Laura:Yeah. So
Lauren:there's that. Cuz they'll be like, oh, my dog doesn't even jump up on the couch. And they'll come to me that next visit and they'll tell me, you know what? They jumped on the couch. And so it's stuff like that just, you know, telling people, Hey, just, just, just pull'em back cuz they're gonna feel great again. So,
Laura:yeah. Okay, cool. So, and like you mentioned at the very beginning about how lots of vets send things your way. Mm-hmm. How do you work collaboratively with vets to ensure the best possible care for the animals that
Lauren:you treat? Oh, perfect. So one condition that, um, a lot of vets and I have been working with is kissing spine and worsen. So basically what that is, is it's an overall degeneration in the spine,
Laura:like when it dips down Yeah. Way back kind of thing.
Lauren:Yeah. What happens is, um, there the discs actually start to shrink. Okay. And, okay, the sinuses, which are like this sticking up, they start to approximate together, and that's why it's called kissing spine because Gotcha processes are about to touch. So a lot of times, Um, some vets will have to come in and will have to inject the area. And what we try to do as chiropractors is co-manage that area so that it's not that the animal doesn't have to be injected, but maybe they can be injected less. Yes, if we can maintain motion then that area doesn't have to be injected as much. Now there's a timeframe. I won't adjust an animal unless it's been at least 10 days post-injection because there's an inflammatory process that grows on when they inject that area. So we wanna make sure that we don't add to that. So I wanna leave that alone until 10 days has gone by. But that's a common condition and I have bets that will reach out and say, Hey, this is going on. I want you, you know, can you go see this animal? And I'm more than happy to do it. And then we also talk about, um, you know, rehabilitation exercises that they can do with their animal. So the whole thing is just trying to do what's best for the animal. And I have been extremely, extremely fortunate, and I did not expect it. But the vets around here have been amazing. That's so great. Yeah. It's been, it's been
Laura:great. Yeah. For both you and Right, like the animals, like holistic healthcare. Yeah. And they're getting it from their primary care person. Yeah. And then they can go to you to get like the specialized in the rehab. Yeah. And it's,
Lauren:and I think too, it takes some of the load off of the vets too. And when the vets trust that you're gonna send the animal when it's appropriate. You're going to get those referrals. And I think that I've established that with them because there's been situations, someone called me out for chiropractic work and I get there and I say, yes, this animal could have chiropractic, but first this animal needs to go to the vet. Um, yeah. So it's just establishing that. And once you do that with the vets and they understand that you're not trying to do veterinary care because that's not what we're trying to do. We're not trying Right. That we're trying to add to it, just like we would for people. It's the same. Yeah. There's some cases that come to us that we can't help you, but first you're in this more critical area, we need to get your help up here and then let's help you. Yeah,
Laura:definitely. Okay. Since you've been doing this, have you encountered any skepticism or resistance from traditional vet medicine regarding you?
Lauren:Um, not directly. I've heard things that different vets say, you know, chiropractic's not real, and, and things like that. But, you know, I, I don't really let that bother me at all because I understand they're not trained in it. Um, right. I, you know, before I went to the chiropractor, I just didn't know about it. So I just think everybody should take the time to. Okay. Educate themselves before you say something is not real or something doesn't work. Just take a little time to educate yourself on it, then make that decision. But yes, that there's hearsay, you know about it, but, um, it, it's not something that, you know, is brought to my attention too much. Now you'll get some skepticism of owners that have never had it. And then that's really cool when their animal can perform better or their, yeah. Better. And they're like, you know, when you make like, someone's like, I'm, I'm a true, I never thought this would work. And then their animals doing this and, uh, it's just cool to see, you know, that turnaround.
Laura:Yeah, definitely. Do you have any like really memorable success stories besides like that older dog that have made like a big difference you think in the animal's wellbeing?
Lauren:Yeah, I, uh, I had, it was probably one of my first patients, so this dog came in and she's like, Um, a little Zo, um, and she's probably about 10 years old, and I looked at her and when she's walking, she couldn't control her back legs. She was just kind of flailing everywhere, falling. And she had so much muscle atrophy. She had really built the front end because she was having to pull. Yeah. But the end there was like no muscle. And so, um, it was one of my first cases and I'm like, oh, of course. That's so
Laura:hard. Yeah, here you go.
Lauren:Um, and I said, I don't know. You know how well I'm gonna be able to help this. I adjusted that dog and. Y now you wouldn't even believe it's the same dog. She comes to me religiously about once a month, and she's been coming to me for about a year now and she is a different dog. She is sassy again. Yeah. She has built so much muscle. She can control her back end. She can walk without falling out. Oh, that's so great. My mind.
Laura:Yeah. Well, right. Yeah. It was like. You'd think once the muscles are gone, like how is she supposed to come back from that?
Lauren:Yeah, she was older too. I thought. We have all these factors going against us, but animals in that aspect are so cool because they can come back. Even being older, it's just so different than like, You and I like, you know, we just, we're not as resilient as that. They recover so much better than we do. Yeah.
Laura:And I feel like it's gotta be a lot of psychological with humans like once. Yes. Whereas animals are just like, all right, survival, here we go. Yeah. Like, exactly.
Lauren:Yeah. And I tell people that too. I think one reason, another big factor, like. The stress, you know, they're not worried about mm-hmm. Paying mortgage. They're not worried about, you know, the kids and things like that. So there's, there's less stress on that aspect of it. But yeah, animals, they don't have to get it adjusted as much. For instance, like if a person starts chiropractic care, they may need to come about once a week when they're getting started, or maybe even more with animals. With a dog, I adjust them once a month. Yeah. That's like routine. Unless there's been trauma or something, then they come sooner. But yeah, I mean that's been one of the coolest cases is the fact that she's built her muscle back. She's a totally different dog now. Um, and she just has, again, like that zest for life. She wants to play, she want and the lady didn't really believe in chiropractic and now like she tells everybody, oh, you got an animal bringer here. So that's been one of my greatest success stories. That's great.
Laura:Yeah. Um, and then since I know listeners are gonna have a few questions for kind of like, you know, next steps for them, how can they get involved and things like that. So what are some signs or behaviors that might indicate that someone's animal could benefit from chiropractic care?
Lauren:Yeah, so any change in like, their behavior. So let's say, let's take a horse for example. You know, I had a guy come to me, he's like, This is the best mayor I have ever had. She's fantastic. I could put anybody on her. And he was like, I was riding her the other day and she body slammed me and he was like, this is not like her. This is totally different. And he's like, I, I didn't have any signs. Um, and so a huge, that, that's a very drastic, you know, change in behavior. But just any sign of behavior of like discomfort, not enjoying activities that they used to, you know, I work with a lot of agility dogs and you know, they're like, they love agility and all of a sudden they don't like it anymore. So, yeah. Yeah. You know, a change in like what they enjoy doing, or it can even be things of like, you know, just. Less energy, you know, not wanting to, you know, not wanting to eat things like that. You know, um, some signs you gotta really deviate, Hey, does this need to go to the vet first? But, right. You know, the biggest thing is just like a change in what they used to really love and all of a sudden they don't like it anymore. That makes sense, cuz
Laura:pain or discomfort.
Lauren:Yeah. Yeah. That's really the only way they can, they can tell us. It just kind of, you know, kinda shut down a little bit. Yeah.
Laura:And then are there any like breeds of certain animals or anything or sp species of animals that you're like, you should be monitoring more closely? Because I'm seeing more issues with this kind of animal or species. The, the
Lauren:dotsons for sure. When it comes to horses, I mean, I have dogs because they are just known to have the low back problems. I mean if you look at it like my husband for instance, he, he has like a really long torso. And he's kind of prone to always getting some, he's a chiropractor, but he's still prone to like back injury and things like that just because of his structure. Yeah. So it has to do with that structure. Um, with horses. It really can be anything. Um, yeah. But you know, a lot of it is like our high performance horses, they tend to, um, need a lot more regular care. I, I prefer for every animal to get checked at least once a month no matter what. Cuz I'm always riding that preventative training. I wanna A problem before it becomes painful, becomes an issue. But yes. You know, checking animals that are doing, you know, sports religiously, or animals that are really prone to just genetic anomalies.
Laura:Yeah. Yeah. Certain breeds, I'm sure. And yeah, I can only imagine like, Of course we're riding horses, so they're backs.
Lauren:Right. It's a lot. Well, I'm like, can you, can you imagine like the back pain you probably had in the past and then all of a sudden someone's sitting on your back? Like it's literally No. The same thing, you know? Yeah. So I tell people sometimes the only way, if you don't, usually they're giving you hints, but sometimes you end up on the ground because you're just not paying attention. Um, yeah. Versus really silly and is trying as hard as for you. And it just gets to the point where we can't take it anymore. Yeah, no,
Laura:that makes sense. And then what would advice would you give to someone who's considering a career as an animal? Chiropractor? You already mentioned, like be prepared for school. Is there anything else that they should know or do? Um, I think
Lauren:it's, I think for one, know that it's like the most awesome career and it's so worth all the time you're gonna go through because you're gonna see some amazing things and you're gonna help animals in ways that you know. Other people can't help them. And you're gonna find that. So more than anything just would motivate people to do it if they really wanna do it. But also get some animal experience. Make sure you feel comfortable, you know, handling dogs and handling horses. Not every case is gonna be, you know, they're not gonna be happy. Easy and easy. Yeah. Yeah. And kind. You know, sometimes horses are in pain and, um, You know, they're gonna show you that. Um, so yeah, just get some animal experience, make sure that it's something that you're comfortable with. And then yeah, just be willing to learn for a long time and continue learning for a very long time.
Laura:Yeah. Yeah. I feel like, like you're saying, the more animal experience, not even just handling, but being able to read the body language, like Yeah. Unless you've had years of looking and knowing what is normal and what is not normal. Yeah. I feel like it'd be
Lauren:really hard. Yeah. And too, you know, when you're treating them, like you're trying to pay attention to the job that you're doing, but you also, you are trying to tune in on that behavior because their behavior can tell you a lot about what you need to work on as well. So, yeah. Um, just observing animals are really getting into with that.
Laura:Cool. All right. And then is there any way that listeners can contact your practice or find one near them? Like do you just Google it? Is there like a place to visit? How can they, how can they get ahold of either you or someone else?
Lauren:Yeah, so, the, I vca they actually have a website where you can go and you can look up different doctors that are certified through them. But also, you know, people can contact me.
Laura:Yeah, yeah. I'll definitely share like your contact info or social
Lauren:or whatever you need. Yeah, they can do that. Facebook, all the things. Um, but yeah, that's another thing to make sure if you are getting an animal chiropractor, that they're either a human chiropractor that's been certified through I B C A or A B C A or they're a veterinarian that's been. Certified through I B C A or a B C A because the only people that can legally do this are chiropractors or veterinarians. Yeah,
Laura:that great caveat. Yeah, don't just look up Joe Schmoe and expect them to.
Lauren:No, fortunately there's a lot of people, and I, I probably should have covered this earlier, that do do this under different labels. And it's really detrimental because. It's just not being done right. So make sure your person's qualified to do it. That's the most important. It drives me nuts to see people doing this that aren't because it's, I mean, you're putting a lot of time into this and more than anything, we just don't wanna hurt the animal.
Laura:Yeah. And for people in Arkansas, or particularly in your part of Arkansas, what is you and Chase's practice
Lauren:called? It's called Champion Chiropractic.
Laura:Okay. I'll make sure to mention that in the. Several different parts. All right. And then Lauren, final fun question. If you could treat any animal in the world, which would you like to have the chance to work on? Of course, A
Lauren:giraffe. Literally, it's on my vision board.
Laura:Oh my gosh, that's epic. I mean, we're putting it out there. Who knows who's listening? Yeah, they got a random giraffe at some park.
Lauren:It's, it's amazing. There's actually, cuz I was like, okay, surely somebody has done this and chiropractors have, they've worked on elephants, they've worked on giraffes already, so, You know, if there's any species. Um, and even, you know, I talked with the Little Rock Zoo about doing things and I've actually been down there once, so, you know, hopefully we can bring it to more exotics because they need it to, obviously we have to, you know, go about it a little bit differently. Yeah. But, you know, making sure everybody's safe. But yeah. Um, I would love to work on a draft. I think that
Laura:would, that would be really cool. Yeah. I wonder how would you support. Like with the su cuz you're talking about how support is the hardest part of a lot of things. Well, do you think the support would be different?
Lauren:They're gonna be a lot like a horse. So there's inherent stabilization there. Yeah. Because there is so much, you know, muscle and so much, um, size that you're not Yeah. Stable. What the biggest thing is, how can I get Reach it? Yeah,
Laura:yeah, yeah. I guess like a, like a scissor lift
Lauren:maybe. Exactly. Well, there's a lady that what they, you know how they do the training and stuff in order to do the veterinary work? Well, they did similar training so she could go in and do the chiropractic as well, so. They would bring them into the holding area and she would get up top and she would just work on the animal. So, and she, that's so cool. She work and all kinds of stuff, so it's really neat.
Laura:All right. That's awesome. Well thanks a million Lauren. Yeah. For coming on. It's so cool to hear, you know, we do a lot of different nature related stuff. Mm-hmm. But it's really cool to hear the healthcare part of things cuz I don't think we've done it yet. Yeah. So it's been really like interesting and just two. For me, like I go to the chiropractor pretty regularly for a bulged disc in my lower back. So it's like cool to hear. Yes. Similar stuff. Absolutely. Tips and like, were pretty similar when it all comes down
Lauren:to it, it is, it's mind blowing how similar it is, which is helpful to chiropractors who, you know, may not have the training on the veterinary side. So, um, yeah, we all suffer from the same things and luckily we've got the means
Laura:to help. That's so great. So yeah, e everyone. Thanks so much for listening. I'm gonna put Lauren's contact information, we'll share her social stuff. So definitely reach out to Lauren if you live in the Arkansas area. But otherwise, you know, if you have an animal that you think needs care, be sure to look them up and make sure they're in an accredited, certified person. But thanks so much for listening to everyone, and please, you know, tune in next week, visit us on our different social handles, especially Twitter. That's our main one. Um, but hopefully now, you know, just a little bit more. Encourage just a little bit more and we'll tune in again next week. Next week. Bye everybody.