As each of you is well aware, Chiropractic is based on the knowledge that the body can only function when it is in communication with the brain via the nervous system. The profession we joyfully practice each day removes interferences to that communication, thus allowing the body to attain and maintain optimal health within the limitations of matter for that body’s individual history.

All animals with a spine function similarly; their spinal columns house and protect the “information highway”, if you will, between brain and body. Animals are subject to the forces of trauma, thoughts/stress, and toxins that can and do induce human subluxation. It naturally follows, then, that animals can become subluxated and that Chiropractic can reduce those subluxations in animals as well as in humans.

Humans and quadrupeds necessarily have differences in shape, orientation, and usage of joints and muscles. They communicate their needs regarding dysfunction differently. Further, animals may have underlying organic disease contributing to, or masquerading as, the subluxation complex. For these reasons, those who seek to treat animals should become suitably educated regarding these issues, and ensure that any animal presenting for treatment has been recently screened by a veterinarian. (Please do not misconstrue this as a recommendation for the necessity for referral from a veterinarian, as they generally do not possess sufficient knowledge of chiropractic to know when referral would be appropriate.) The American Veterinary Chiropractic Association (AVCA) offers a rigorous post-graduate certification process that is, I believe, vital in order to competently to treat animals.

Attaining certification through AVCA, however, does not guarantee that a chiropractor will be able to practice on animals unchallenged by the veterinary system. In September of 2003, I was issued a Cease and Desist order by the NH Board of Veterinary Medicine, charging me with practicing veterinary medicine without a license. This placed me in the company of many dedicated and caring Doctors of Chiropractic nationwide whom the veterinarian boards are attempting to stop from helping animals. The most remarkable case was State of North Carolina v. Gail Galligan, DC; Dr. Galligan’s case made history when the judge threw out not only the charge against her, but also the Veterinary Practice Act in the state. According to Dr. Galligan, he stated that the law was so broadly written, a priest could not even bless an animal unless he were a veterinarian. The ripples of that case are still being felt. And it is significant that the Veterinary Practice Act in New Hampshire at the time was, except for the state name, verbatim for the North Carolina Act.

It’s time to take a stand. We requested a hearing from the Veterinary Board and were advised that they had reached a decision that I was indeed in violation and thus not entitled to hearing. This past June, we filed a lawsuit against the New Hampshire Board of Veterinary Medicine to settle the issue once and for all. The veterinary board filed a motion of appearance (stating who their counsel is) and the attorneys had a meeting with the judge. We are awaiting a hearing before the Superior Court; we will keep you all advised as to the outcome.

All this does, of course, involve significant costs. Each case that we chiropractors win makes it easier for everyone else to practice unimpeded. It seems absurd to me that performing chiropractic adjustments on humans is recognized by the law as not the same as practicing medicine; why then is it different when adjusting animals? And the law recognizes the rights of human parents to take their infants to homeopaths, or acupuncturists, or chiropractors—why are they unable to make the same decision for their animals (which, by the way, the law recognizes as property)? I welcome your ideas, your energy, and both moral- and financial support. Any amount will be a help; you may make out checks to Sue Ann Sidell Legal Action Fund and send them to Riverside Wellness Center, 630 Main Street, Gorham NH   03581. Thank you for caring about our animal companions and our rights to help them live subluxation-free lives!

Submitted by: Sue Ann Sidell, D.C., C.A.C on 11/17/06