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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NO
HORSIN' AROUND WITH ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Boston, Mass. July 14, 2001 -- The beautiful gelding romped in the pasture,
nickering loudly, the picture of health to the average observer. But
Dr. Joyce Harman, one of the growing number of veterinarians practicing
alternative along with traditional medicine, saw that the horse's eyes
were dull and tense, clues to what she would later discover to be liver
disease.
More veterinarians, and more pet owners, are turning to chiropractic,
acupuncture, herbs and homeopathy (very dilute substances) to treat
cats, dogs, and horses. Dr. Harman has an equine practice, the Harmany
Equine Clinic, in Washington, Virginia, where she has a client base
of 700 to 900 horses in a 50-mile radius. She includes traditional veterinary
medicine whenever necessary, especially in the field of diagnostics
or drug therapy, but estimates that acupuncture and chiropractic account
for 75% of her practice.
"The
main premise behind complementary and alternative veterinary medicine
(CAVM) is that the whole horse is taken into account. Traditional examinations
are expanded upon, including all past health history, current clinical
conditions, environment, living quarters, workload, nutrition, and even
the rider's skill and balance on the horse," said Harman at the
138th Annual Convention of the American Veterinary Medical Association
(AVMA) in Boston, July 14-18, at the Hynes Convention Center.
Dr. Harman was a member of the AVMA Task Force on Alternative and Complementary
Therapies, which recently revised the AVMA guidelines on complementary
and alternative veterinary medicine. According to the AVMA, all veterinary
medicine, including CAVM, should be held to the same standards. Veterinarians
should ensure that they have the requisite skills and knowledge for
any treatment modality they may be considering; diagnosis should be
based on sound, accepted principles of veterinary medicine; and recommendations
for effective and safe care should be based on available scientific
knowledge and the medical judgment of the veterinarian.
Dr. Harman is certified to perform acupuncture and chiropractic. She
agrees that it's very important that clients do their homework and check
out a practitioner's credentials prior to the first holistic examination.
Most of Harman's clients initially come to her when traditional medical
routes have failed. After years of unsuccessful treatment, many horses
with chronic conditions, such as arthritis, skin allergies, and coughing,
have found some relief with alternative therapies. However, it is not
always a case of "like horse, like owner." "Some of my
clients have never stepped foot inside a health store," Harman
said, "but they know CAVM works on their horses." And, once
enlightened, they don't wait to bring in their next horse.
Like many of her peers, Harman doesn't advertise. She doesn't need to
market herself. Harman's clinic has grown rapidly by word of mouth and
repeat business. Among her many interesting success stories is a high-performance
dressage horse that had fallen and was still lame after traditional
treatments. For six months, Harman treated the horse with acupuncture,
chiropractic, and homeopathy. He is now free and of lameness and back
to performing well.
About half the horses seen by the Harmany Equine Clinic are pleasure
horses; the others are high-performance horses that compete in shows,
rodeos, and even Olympic events. Some are semi-retired or retired, but
well loved and well cared for by Dr. Harman, a solo practitioner who
often speaks in pluralities.
"I work as a team with my clients," she explains. "Together,
we try to ensure optimal health for their horses."
Optimal
health may include defining the reasons for subtle lameness by examining
each vertebra chiropractically, or determining whether nutrition, heredity
or chronic disease is causing reproductive problems. "In conventional
medicine, chronic conditions are accepted, as long as the animal is
considered free from devastating illness," Harman said, "but
these horses are not truly healthy."
Although the bulk of her practice is acupuncture and chiropractic, Harman
only uses the modalities that are necessary for each patient. For instance,
she chose a nutritional program and homeopathy to treat an overweight
chestnut gelding with laminitis. With many years of unsuccessful traditional
therapies under his saddle, he is now a healthy 20-year-old that is
thriving in a CAVM maintenance program.
"I've wanted to be a horse vet since I was three," Harman
said, "and alternative medicine has opened up many more avenues
to treating diseases and conditions. It's exciting to be a part of this
growing segment of veterinary medicine."
The AVMA is a professional organization of 66,000 veterinarians. More
than 750 seminars were presented during the 138th annual convention,
which is one of the largest gatherings of veterinarians in North America.
The next AVMA annual convention will be in Nashville, July 13-17, 2002.
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