Northwoods premier chiropractic clinic for people and their pets.
Our mission is to provide the highest quality human/animal chiropractic care to help you and your pet heal, provide optimal mobility and function, and or to maintain a higher level of health through wellness care.
Why chiropractic for humans and animals?
What is a Primary Condition?
The primary condition Dr. Doug detects as a chiropractor is a structural shift or a biomechanical abnormality. These shifts are found through a chiropractic exam and corrected with a gentle and specific chiropractic adjustment. When left alone, structural shifts can lead to early degenerative changes of the spine in both humans and animals. This can lead to impaired nervous system function. Until these abnormalities are corrected, the spine will function at a less than optimal level, the nerves will have decreased firing, muscles will begin to atrophy, and secondary conditions will eventually develop.
Indicators of a Structural Shift: If one or more of these is present, it is highly likely that you or your animal has biomechanical abnormalities in the spine or extremities that could benefit from chiropractic care.
- Pain
- Muscle spasm
- Muscle atrophy
- Hypersensitivity to stimuli
- Generalized pain and discomfort
- Decrease in motion at a joint
- Non-awareness of limbs
- Changes in attitude or temperament
How Does a Shift Occur?
One of the most common questions we are asked is “how?” How do myself or my animal get these shifts in the spine? The answer is simple, life. Humans spend 8-12 hours at work daily, while a puppy, a kitten, or a foal grow so quickly that they can take big tumbles and falls---- life can take its toll. For humans we have microtraumas like sitting in a desk all day or doing a repetitive motion for hours on end. It can also be big traumas like car accidents, skiing accidents, trips or falls, and even sports injuries. For animals, whether it’s jumping over fences, up on couches, or tumbling off of a bed, animals push their bodies to the limit and often end up hurting themselves in the process. Being youthful, however, allows them to continuously push themselves to the limits and test their boundaries. As they grow into adulthood, animals tend to mellow out and calm down. All the damage they did during their youth, however, is often ignored and left unaddressed if the animal is not exhibiting any kind of symptom. The same goes for humans--- until we are in debilitating pain we tend to push through our day. Ignoring structural shifts for years usually shows up years down the road in the form of degenerative changes.
What is a Secondary Condition?
When a structural shift is outside of normal, you or your animal may experience one or more of what we call secondary conditions. What we refer to as secondary conditions can often be confused with what others may call “symptoms”. The reason we use the term secondary conditions is because they are often a result of an underlying, primary condition. Secondary conditions include but are not limited to: lameness, limping, pain, arthritis, allergies, incontinence, hunchback, inability to jump or climb stairs, and disc disease. For example, if your house has a cracked foundation (primary condition) which leads to creaking doors, leaking windows, and squeaky floorboards (secondary conditions) if you were to Wd-40 the doors, caulk the windows, and put another nail in the floor, would the cracked foundation still be there? As the foundation gets weaker, the doors will creak again, windows leak, floorboards creak, and the roof may even begin to sag. Just because something isn’t as visible (the cracked foundation) doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a huge impact on the overall strength of the house. As a human and animal chiropractor, it is Dr. Doug’s job to find the structural abnormalities of you and your pets (primary conditions) and reduce and remove them so that the secondary conditions resolve themselves and you can all lead healthy happy lives.
SolutionDr. Doug's goal is to direct the spine to what’s considered to be normal. Through the location and correction of these structural shifts, he is able to relieve pressure on the discs and the nerves, which in turn relieves pain, improves mobility, and corrects nervous system function. A healthy nervous system leads to an improved quality of life.
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No more putting a band-aid on the issue, we
get to the cause. Structural shifts to the spine can cause secondary effects such as pain, stiffness, discomfort, numbness and tingling, and more. Our care is designed to empower the patient to take control of their health care. We teach easy to apply principles (whether that be stretching or strengthening or both) that will allow for a healthier and happier life wherever you are at in your health goals. |
Why Chiropractic for Animals?
Dr. Doug's goal is to direct the animal's spine to what’s considered to be normal. Through the location and correction of structural shifts, he is able to relieve pressure on the discs and the nerves, which in turn relieves pain, improves mobility, and improves nervous system function. A healthy nervous system leads to an improved quality of life and a happier, higher functioning animal. |
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