VOM
Puppy With Toy — San Diego, CA — South San Diego Veterinary Hospital

A Gentle Touch for Pet Joint Health: Veterinary Orthopedic Manipulation

Veterinary orthopedic manipulation (VOM) is a healing technology offered here at South San Diego Veterinary Hospital that locates areas of the animal's nervous system that have fallen out of communication re-establishes neuronal communication and thus induces healing. Let us help your pet in the San Diego, CA, area with an adjustment today!

  • Common Conditions Treated With VOM

    VOM is simple, effective, and safe and can routinely treat conditions such as:

    • Acute and nonacute lameness
    • Progressive lameness
    • Hip dysplasia-like syndromes
    • IV disc disease
    • Progressive myelopathies ("down in the rears" dogs)
    • Urinary and fecal incontinence
    • Unilateral lameness
    • Wobbler's disease
    • Diseases of the knee
    • Esophageal disease
    • Increased or decreased GI mobility disease
    • Digestive disorders
    • Performance problems
    • Behavioral problems
    • Ability dysfunction
    • Endocrine disease
    • And many more!

  • Modalities & Techniques of VOM

    VOM exists in between veterinary medicine and chiropractic care. It is similar to some of the chiropractic modalities and functions by restoring function by reducing "subluxations," as in chiropractic care. It uses a hand-held device in popular human chiropractic techniques called "activator methods." Still, it is separate from that technique. The differences between VOM and chiropractic care are significant and distinct.


    VOM exists in a gray area between both professions (veterinary and chiropractic) and benefits from the positive aspects of both – it is a hybrid and thus more effective than either approach by itself.

The History of Veterinary Orthopedic Manipulation

VOM was developed by William L. Inman BS, DVM, CVCP, in Seattle, Washington, in Dr. Inman's clinical practice from July 1982 to date. Before Dr. Inman began using these noninvasive techniques, he was an accomplished veterinary surgeon and still consults in veterinary surgery. His vacillation to VOM from surgery reflects his frustration with ineffective surgical solutions to common veterinary medical problems.

Neuronal Subluxation Reduction Through VOM

VOM is accurate because the technique finds and reduces all neuronal subluxations. All neuronal subluxations have a pathological reflex demonstrably associated with them. A pathological reflex is like a knee-jerk response. It is either there or it is not. It is an objective means to determine the presence and reduction of neuronal subluxation.

  • What is Subluxation?

    All chiropractic techniques (veterinary and human) rely on the chiropractic "listing" to determine the presence of a subluxation. Through manual palpation, a misplaced bone prominence or a taut and tender muscle may be discovered by a competent veterinary chiropractor whose patient is cooperative and relaxed. This is a listing, an anatomical subluxation sign, almost always indicative of a neuronal subluxation syndrome. Unfortunately, only 40% of all neuronal subluxations produce palpable anatomical subluxation signs. This means over half of all the animal's subluxations will be overlooked if anatomical listings are used to discover them.

  • How We Use VOM to Achieve Subluxation Reduction

    The good news is that all neuronal subluxations produce "pathological reads," which are evident and easy to discover and reduce. The goal of an adjustment in an animal is for all the vertebral subluxations in that animal to be reduced. Subluxation reduction based on anatomical listings will get approximately half of the total neurological subluxations in the animal. Subluxation reduction based on pathological reads will get them all and verify they have been reduced. Fast, easy, effective.


    All chiropractic modalities have one thing in common: they reduce the vertebral subluxation complex by providing motion or force to the fixated or subluxated joint.

    • Spinal or injury – neuronal subluxation syndrome – pathological read
    • Neuronal subluxation + motion (force) = subluxation reduced

    So, if you put motion into a joint associated with a neuronal subluxation sign (a pathological read), you reduce the subluxation. It is that simple. All the various types of chiropractic techniques have this motion or force into the subluxated joint in common. VOM delivers its force with a hand-held device called a spinal accelerometer. It looks like a spring-loaded doorstop.

  • What Is a Hand-Held VOM Device?

    The hand-held VOM device reduces the subluxations in your pet's joint. It cannot create a subluxation in your pet. It can only flip the neuronal switches that are turned off and on. It cannot flip a switch off. It provides accurate and precise motion to specific areas of the pet's spine. If a subluxation is present, it can detect and reduce it quickly and without pain or injury. It can confirm that the neuronal subluxation is diminished, even if not associated with an anatomical listing.

  • Can VOM Harm My Pet?

    VOM cannot harm your pet. The beauty of the VOM technology is that it provides the exact amount of force needed to reduce the subluxation to the subluxated joint without having to endure a lot of motion. Our hands are too slow. The fastest an excellent veterinary chiropractor can move a joint under optimum conditions and patient cooperation is 80 milliseconds. The animal's natural reflexive resistance to adjustment is 20 milliseconds, or four times faster. This demonstrates the need for patient relaxation and cooperation and is why excellent technique is imperative for success using manual adjusting. Conversely, the device fires at 2-4 milliseconds, five to 10 times faster than the animal's ability to resist adjustment. The patient is continuously adjusted in any position, attitude, or mood, whether they want to be.

  • Why is VOM Successful?

    VOM is successful because it locates all the neuronal subluxations in the animal, regardless of whether clinical listings are present. It reduces them and confirms the reduction. A built-in rescheduling protocol that inserts the patient on a self-regulating readjustment interval is inherent in the VOM technology. Again, it is an easy, objective science.

What to Expect After Your Pet’s Adjustment Appointment

The veterinary chiropractor will do a "diagnostic pass," which entails him/her running the device down the pet's spine to search for pathological reads indicative of subluxations. The subluxations found will be recorded.

Recommendation

Suppose significant subluxations are found, and they correspond to the clinical disease presented. In that case, a course of VOM treatment will be recommended.

Estimate

An estimate may be generated, and other procedures (such as bloodwork, X-ray, and other diagnostic tests) may be recommended and quoted.

Second VOM Pass

A second VOM pass (therapeutic pass) will be made, and the reading pattern changes will be noted. Your pet may be already showing signs of improvement.

Third VOM Pass

A third VOM pass (second therapeutic pass) will usually be made, and that data will be evaluated. Most, if not all, of the reads may be reduced at this point.


Your pet may then be sent home or observed overnight by the clinician, depending upon the nature of the case.

Scheduling

Upon release, an appointment to return for readjustment will be made, and postadjustment instructions will be given as to activity and potential discomfort that evening.

Medications

Some medicines may be dispensed, depending on the clinician and the nature of the case.

Post Adjustment FAQs 

  • How Many Readjustments Does My Pet Need?

    Three to five readjustments may be needed to reach a point where no reads are found, in which case the subluxation pattern is "cured."


    Maintenance checks may be recommended every four to six months to watch for reoccurrence.

  • What Changes in My Pet Can I Expect Post Adjustment?

    After the adjustment, you may see a response while your pet is on the examination table. It can be that fast. An experienced VPC may have treated cases who haven't walked for weeks and have been given up for dead, and with one adjustment thrust, the pet stands and walks about the exam room. The average case will see a positive response within the first week. Commonly, the entering clinical complaint will be gone within the first three adjustments, giving the client the false security that the case is completed.


    Cases that show no response within one month may not resolve toward a satisfactory solution. Cases with paralysis or lack of function for years or months may not respond well to VOM; however, it cannot hurt to try VOM.

  • Why Does My Pet Need a Follow-Up Appointment?

    Follow-up appointments are necessary because the body has gotten used to functioning in an out-of-communication state. The nervous system has thrown up a nerve adaptation that allows some marginal level of function. The body develops a pseudomemory of how it has "adapted." When the body is reintroduced to functioning correctly, that system wins out for a stretch of time until the nagging pseudomemory of the neuronal adaptation re-expresses itself on the body again. The body slips "out of adjustment." Systematic readjustment on a succinct schedule finally wins out over the pseudoadaptive memory, and further adjustments are unnecessary.


    Treatment failures fall into two categories:

    • Neurological damage is extensive, significant, and permanent (too much serious injury for too long).
    • The VOM treatment schedule is not kept (the most common cause of VOM failure and most accessible to prevent).

  • Where Can I Find More Information?

    For more information, you can visit their official website at www.vomtech.com.

To find out if VOM is right for your pet, call 619-423-7121 today!

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