Rising Sun
Animal Chiropractic

Good Morning Everyone,

Working with human patients I usually don’t have to worry about getting kicked or bitten too much.  Animals can be sometimes unpredictable but in most cases they behave very well and love getting adjusted.  I didn’t grow up around horses but I have spent my whole life working with dogs and have developed a pretty good sense of when I am in trouble with my patient and need to give them some space to cool down.  Since I started practicing with horses I have learned how they talk; eyes, ears, body language and sometimes vocally .  I have been stepped on several times, bitten a few times and now kicked.  Why am I telling this story?  First, it was a new experience that I don’t want to repeat.  Second, I reinforced the power of nutrition (I will tell you more in a minute). Third, I actually learned a little piece of valuable information.

The power of nutrition?  Have you ever fallen, been hit, kicked or punched, sprained/strained, tweaked, pulled, wrenched ect……..If you have ever dealt with a soft tissue injury(muscle, skin, tissues) you may have dealt with the injury longer than you may have needed to.  The kick to my leg left me immediately in pain and after I did some tests on myself to make sure I had no broken bones and finished the treatment for my patient.  I got in my car and started driving home I realized how swollen my knee was getting.  It was hot, already a baseball sized goose egg and VERY sore.  Getting out of my car and walking was a bit of a challenge but once inside and laying down I started taking nutritional supplements.  Proteolytic enzymes are fantastic and something I recommend for my human patients in acute cases for this very reason, they reduce inflammation, clean up scar tissue and promote healing because of it.  There is a TON of research about them and I am not going to go into it here.  My wife who happens to be an AWSOME acupuncturist and a dedicated learner of nutritional practices started getting me Enzymes, and a few other Standard Process supplements.  I iced, took the nutrition hourly and the next morning I had NO swelling, the bruise wasn’t pretty but I was able to walk, work a full day and bend my knee and squat on the ground.  I was amazed! I continued the protocol for the next 4-5 days and by then I had no bruise.  Lesson here!!!  If you are dealing with a new injury call your Chiropractic Physician, Nutritionist, Naturopath, Acupuncturist, Medical Physician and get on the proper nutrition for soft tissue repair and fix yourself right the first time!

The last part of my lesson for that evening was to always be intune with your patient.  Everyone has had an experience at the doctors office where you may have felt less than listened to.  Doctors are people too and sometimes life interrupts when we should be dedicating time to you.  Well on that evening I was talking with the owner about another horse while I was checking out my current equine patient, she let me know with a very strong exclamation that I needed to be focused on her alone.  I realized after I got a painful wakeup that I wasn’t tuned into her and I should have been.  This is a good lesson for all the things we do.  Be in the PRESENT moment with any activity that we do.  Most days I am very tuned into my chiropractic patients whether they are human or animal because I get better results, quicker but that night I learned there is never a time where it is ok to not be fully focused on what I am doing.

I know this is a longer post but I learned 3 valuable lessons: 1) Horses kick Very Hard! 2) Nutritional supplements are powerful medicine 3) Focus on what you are doing, always, avoid letting your mind wander.  You get the job done faster with a much higher quality.
Yours in health

Dr. Nelson

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 9:59 AM and is filed under Daily Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.