Let’s Get Cracking
Read as Dr. Kate Robinson takes us through her journey of veterinary spinal manipulation therapy
Part 1: It all led to this…
I can still remember sitting in a 3 rd year vet school lecture, ignoring my professor and instead creating a very rough draft of a business plan for providing only chiropractic care to horses. I don’t remember what the lecture I was ignoring was about. I do remember we’d just had a guest lecture on veterinary spinal manipulation therapy (commonly shortened to VSMT) with Dr. Kevin May, a prominent provider of veterinary chiropractic care and acupuncture. I immediately fell in love with the idea of providing VSMT for my future patients, and obviously it was much more important to doodle about that then pay attention to my professor.
There were several reasons for my instant infatuation with veterinary spinal manipulation therapy. First, it was really cool to see photos of Dr. May up on a giant chiropractic bale adjusting the Budweiser Clydesdales! I wanted to do that! Second, I was acutely aware of how much my chiropractor had helped my back and neck health when I could see him regularly. I was very much missing regular chiropractic care while I sat in lecture halls for hours on end during the first 3 years of vet school. How amazing would it be to provide the same type of relief and care to horses?!
I spoke to my mentor about providing VSMT to horses. She was skeptical of the therapy (this was 16 years ago, before there was much research or understanding of VSMT in horses) and made what seemed like a very reasonable point – how are you going to get through all that muscle to facilitate change on a horse’s spine? With that in mind, I put the idea to rest and carried on through vet school. I graduated from vet school in 2008, after which I completed a 16 month internship in equine ambulatory practice and followed that with an intensive 3 year residency specializing in Equine Practice. I spent a lot of time in my internship and residency honing my lameness skills. I continued expanding, refining and sharing these skills when I was hired onto faculty at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in 2013. But I felt something was missing. Alternative therapies, such as VSMT and acupuncture were becoming more mainstream. I had some advanced knowledge of acupuncture after completing a large research project looking at the effects of acupuncture on horses with navicular syndrome, and while it was interesting, acupuncture didn’t light a fire in me the way VSMT had. As the equine world became more accepting of VSMT, my interest was again piqued. Unfortunately, support for me gaining my certification was lacking and I again put the idea aside.
Fast forward to the winter of 2021. I had left my job at WCVM and was newly hired at McKee-Pownall Equine Services. Several of the vets I worked with at MPES had their VSMT or acupuncture certification (or both!) and these modalities were commonly used in the practice. Three months into working at MPES I was asked about my goals and continuing education…I said I had been interested in veterinary spinal manipulation therapy for quite some time and the rest is history! I enrolled in the Veterinary Chiropractic Learning Centre’s fall 2021 class and completed my certification in March 2022. I have been using VSMT since and find so much pleasure in providing this type of care to my equine patients. My training in VSMT has enhanced my eye for subtle lameness, vastly improved my musculoskeletal palpation skills, and has given me a completely different toolkit for addressing performance issues in horses. It’s been a journey, but I’m grateful that 16 years after doodling in that lecture, I’ve made it and am certified in VSMT!
I’m going to use this blog to share my passion for veterinary spinal manipulation therapy and hopefully pique your interest in this modality and how it may benefit your horse.
Until next time….
Dr. Kate