The interest in animal chiropractic seems to be increasing in the United States especially in equine practice. For horse or pet owners interested in having chiropractic performed on their animals, there are some concerns that should be considered. First of all, to legally perform chiropractic or any alternative therapy on an animal in Texas, you must be a licensed veterinarian or work under supervision of a veterinarian. Even a licensed human chiropractor can not legally practice on animals without working under a vet. The reason is that human chiropractors are trained on humans and not animals. The musculoskeletal systems and nervous systems are vastly different between species and human chiropractors do not have the necessary knowledge of animal anatomy and physiology.
Although human licensed chiropractors spend 4 years in school to learn about chiropractic in people, there are many people that perform animal chiropractic without any training at all and there also is no licensing for animal chiropractors. There are some schools that offer animal chiropractic certification. However, none of these schools are recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association and therefore the certification of the schools has no set standards their graduates are required to meet. Consequently, when you contact an animal chiropractor that is not a vet, it is impossible to determine the skill they may or may not possess. Animals have been injured by chiropractic manipulation so it is important to have your vet involved in any alternative treatments such as chiropractic involving your animals.
h