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Behind every
profession, a set of standards acts as a buttress against individualism.
This allows the
profession to actively work to prevent individual members from slipping away
from the agreed codes of conduct and ‘doing their own thing’.
Continuing Professional
Development
Developments within
healthcare move at such a pace that no professional can afford to limit
themselves to the knowledge and skills their undergraduate training gave them.
The public takes it for granted that professionals will keep their knowledge and
skills up to date, and the Government expects the same.
Across many
professions, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the responsibility for
members to pursue learning and development activity every year. They should then
apply it to improve their practice in the patients’ interests and for the
development of the profession.
Chiropractors must
undertake at least 30 hours of learning activities each year for their CPD. This
is required and monitored by the General Chiropractic Council, who’s job it is
deal with 'slippery customers', to uphold standards.
Human or Animal Patients?
Most chiropractors
treat people. Their CPD topics range around further chiropractic techniques,
other complementary methods and research techniques and results. Human medicine
has a very wide range of development, and there is much to be interested in.
CPD for chiropractors
working with animals is a bit more involved. Veterinary medicine is also
developing in its own way – and helping human medicine as it goes – and
occasionally producing changes that chiropractors need to understand.
Chiropractors usually work with cats, dogs and horses, but there are several
other species in farms and many more taken to the RSPCA and other rescue
centres.
Where training events
involve techniques for animals, patients are needed for demonstration and
practice. But finding sufficient patients can be difficult – chiropractors
working with animals usually have miles of driving between patients.
Visiting the Amazon!
 Recently,
a visit to the zoo was arranged by Vav Simon, at Amazon World on the Isle of
Wight. The great benefit of this is that chiropractors were able to see a wide
range of species to compare with their usual patients of horses, dogs and cats –
and humans
Many zoo animals are
fairly used to being handled by keepers, so they are not truly wild, but even
so, they are not docile like household pets. They are mostly kept in cages and
all this creates a ‘get in – treat quick – get out’ strategy to minimise their
disturbance, and for health & safety reasons, too!
Zoo-keepers are
often naturally animal-people, with pets of their own. This helps them recognise
zoo animals who have limps, sore bits or other health issues relevant to
chiropractic. Amazon World had recently called in Vav to deal with a lame
Ocelot, which was violently aggressive because of back-pain. But before Vav
could get there, the ocelot gave birth and immediately calmed, so it seems
likely that the babies were inducing the pain by pressing on a nerve.
Legs, Feet and Toes...
 Four-legged
animals have neck vertebrae that meet the cranium in a different way to humans.
Because of this, the muscles are structured differently, and obviously the bones
have evolved according to the species' environments.
Many four-legged
land animals have different numbers of toes to the five we expect to see on our
own limbs. Horses have one, cows, pigs and sheep have two, tapirs three, some
hedgehogs have four and guinea pigs have evolved four
toes on the forefeet, three on the hind feet.
All this reminds
us that we (humans) are the odd ones out – standing and walking on two legs.
Although we think of monkeys as close relatives, some are so small that it is
very difficult to palpate their bones. When we were handling the
Goeldi's Monkey
– which weighs 100grams – the chiropractors found their hands were a hundred
times larger than theirs! Monkey skeletons are generally similar to human
anatomy, apart from their tails which differ between species of monkey – only a
few are actually prehensile (that is, able to wrap around a branch and hang
on!).
One of the most
interesting animals we saw was the up-side-down Tree Sloth. Hanging by
their toe-nails, their limb joints are in suspension rather than compression,
which changes the ligamentation. A further result is that the internal organs
are quite differently arranged, which might alter their innervation pattern,
perhaps changing their links with vertebral subluxations.
Hair, Feathers and Scales...
 Some
animals are so hairy that no visual observation is really possible. Overall
movement can be seen, and it might seem lumbering or one-sided, but it is
difficult to be specific. But the condition of their coat can give clues about
the health of the nerves leading to it, which in turn can be traced back to
subluxations in the spine.
Hairiness can also
make treatment difficult – the poor old Porcupine will never receive
chiropractic treatment! And the spiny ant-eater is just too dangerous – one
swipe from the massively claw-filled paw will literally remove a human stomach,
even by accident!
 Armadillos
are impossible to treat in the normal direction. The keratin armour on their
back is rock-hard, so you cannot palpate the skeleton beneath it. But palpating
through their tummy isn't easy because they curl up into a ball when they feel
threatened!
Similarly,
Tapirs have pig-like skeletons with very thick, tough skins to protect them
against predators like crocodiles and jaguars. But this makes it very difficult
to palpate for misalignments that may be obvious from gait analysis.
 Most
birds can be treated with chiropractic, if they are held still. Those
that fit into the hand can be seen to quickly, and then released. Cage birds are
more used to handling, and poultry may be helped too.
But it takes a
falconer with a thick leather glove to handle birds of prey who are used
to working, though they rarely sit still when you want them to!
Penguins
are different again, with short stiff oily feathers; and for limbs, they have
four flippers – their feet and 'wings'.
Of course
snakes have no legs, so their locomotion is completely different. This means
they have fewer traumatic injuries, and also that subluxations can only be
treated directly on the vertebrae itself.
 And
larger snakes (like the Boa Constrictor shown here) need many helpers to
hold the patient still for the treatment. This gives rise to the inevitable
question – how many chiropractors does it take to treat a snake?
The Answer...
ONE – if it's a Boa Constrictor wrapped round
you – but you've got to be quick!
Post Script
The zoo manager was
very pleased to get this visit, as Amazon World has a breeding programme as part
of their responsible care for endangered species. Conception, pregnancy and
labour all have the best chance within a healthy body, when bones, nerves,
glands and blood are all doing their job. Chiropractic can make a big
contribution to help this.
This CPD event
was very well timed as a couple of weeks later, Vav called back to the zoo for
an emergency. A South American paca, a large dog-sized rodent, had just
arrived from another zoo, for the breeding programme. She was in a poor state of
health and there was doubt about whether she could carry young. After
chiropractic, she was walking more easily, and the zoo decided to cross their
fingers and carry on. |
