Personal Approach from Doctor Jon on Alternative Medicine

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The world of integrative medicine encompasses a variety of perspectives, approaches, and therapeutic options. It is somewhat difficult to explain to someone, especially the eastern medicine way of thinking, and yet the integration of such perspectives is very complementary to a solid western medicine foundation. In fact, it actually makes you a better diagnostician and physician. When we say alternative or integrative, we're mainly referring to the world of acupuncture and chiropractic type care.

 

The Chi Institute in Florida (now known as The Chi University) is well respected for training veterinarians up in the fields of each, with separate courses for the two fields but interesting overlap as most of my instructors were present for both studies.  I was actually somewhat skeptical in the beginning, but was pleasantly surprised to see how things seem to flow in its rudimentary and yet almost imaginative observational supposition of what physiology actually was.  It's somewhat similar to quantum physics in that it can be in a way unbelievable, and yet it just seems to be true.  Here we are speaking mostly of the eastern medicine/acupuncture way, because the chiropractic approach, while somewhat natural, is a little more grounded in its ways.

 

The best approach seems to be more of a blend of the different worlds.  There are so many things that can literally fall through the cracks in the western medicine universe, and yet we are in big trouble if we leave it behind completely.  For example, in the western sports medicine world there is somewhat of a blocking and isolating approach, and then the magic potion goes in the spot. The body as a whole tends to get left by the wayside, and we may only be getting our patients partially better.  Another tendency in traditional medicine is to ignore the axial skeleton (neck-spine-pelvis) and focus on the hot spots. As we as owners become more aware of our horses' abilities, the more we understand the need and effort for helping them to achieve our and their athletic goals.  The chiropractic approach is maintaining flexibility, strength, and relaxation; any interference with this balance is referred to as a restriction.  It is amazing to see how many horses are performing that cannot adequately bend in one direction or another.  Even more amazing is seeing how these horses can improve in their performances with proper therapy. 

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 The traditional Chinese medicine approach that I was schooled in is called Five Elements Medicine. It takes into account an individual's personality, tendencies, makeup, and status (hot-cold, old-young, etc.) and then tailors or fine tunes their therapy based on their makeup. For instance, my mother could beat my brother and me, but then only had to look cross-ways at the youngest to correct him. While not the best example, we can all think of horses that differed even greater in their personalities. From a sports-medicine perspective, things can be a little more simplistic without having to dig so deep in the five elements world. The trigger points that indicate referred pain can be invaluable from a quick scan or exam. While there are back or axial skeleton problems that may have to be injected, we hardly ever attempt to fix those without the help of acupuncture/herbal therapy/Chiropractic care first; many times it does the job.

 

In the veterinary world Chiropractic care is referred to as EVMM or equine veterinary medical manipulation therapy; so many of us know easier how to relate from our human chiropractors that it commonly or often falls into their vernacular. All of this to say that some things are best fixed one way and some another, but many of the more hard-to-figure out ones need a multi-pronged approach. Solomon said there is wisdom and strength in a multitude of counselors, the same can go for arrows in our therapeutic quivers. There is a wise old saying that "if all you've got is a hammer, then everything you see is a nail."   I want a physician with an assortment of 'hammers'. 

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Dr. Jon A Koella   DVM

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