Update on Gracie: After the Equine Chiropractor

Last week I told you about my vet coming out and recommending various treatment options for Gracie. At that point, we still weren’t sure what was going on with her or how serious of an injury she had. The only definite thing we knew was that Gracie was having horrible stifle issues that weren’t getting better.

(Image Courtesy of Minnesota Public Radio)

As luck would have it, the Equine Chiropractor (Dr. Joseph Leviner) I’ve been wanting to use called me and said he would be up my way and was willing to come see her and Vinni. He came out on Tuesday and after just a few minutes of evaluating Gracie he determined her Sacro-illiac along with C4 and C5 vertebrae were out of alignment. She also had some movement in her lumber region that could have been from her Sacro-illiac being out of place but he didn’t want to over work her body so he was going to adjust what he felt was most important and then do the other at different time.

Joseph worked on Gracie for probably 30 minutes. He made the comment that she was “very out of whack” and it’s no wonder she’s been having problems. Well it’s now been a week since he’s been out and I will say I haven’t noticed a bit of stiffness in her hind end and she is moving fantastic. She’s actually been out running in the pasture with no problems. The last couple of nights I’ve kept her up since it’s rained here a lot and when I turn her out in the morning she shows no signs of stifle issues from standing still.

After talking with Joseph and doing a ton of research online, I am confident to say that I truly believe her problem was related to her spine being out of alignment. I also read that her specific problem could cause muscle spasms which is exactly what I noticed when everything started. I’m glad that I finally know what the problem was and that it is fixable. I’m planning to have Gracie adjusted by the Chiropractor a few more times which should get everything back into place and her 100% again. Until them I’m just going to continue to take it easy on her and slowly build her muscles back.

The Equine Chiropractor I used, Joseph Leviner, is from the Charlotte area but does travel the state and to SC when needed. If you’re interested in having him out to work on your horse, contact me. I’ll be happy to give you his number and email address.

In case you missed it, here are previous posts about Gracie’s problem over the past few months:

• Locking Stiffle Issue and Vet Recommendations
• 1st Update on Gracie
• Problems Continue for Gracie
• Something is wrong with Gracie and she needs our prayers