Frequently Asked Questions

1.  What is VOM?

Veterinary Orthopedic Manipulation is a healing technology that locates areas of the animal’s nervous system that has fallen out of communication, and re-establishes neuronal communication and thus induces healing.  VOM is singularly the most simple, effective and safe healing modality in veterinary care to date. 

2.  Is Veterinary Orthopedic Manipulation Chiropractic Care?

No, VOM exists in between veterinary medicine and chiropractic care.  It has similarities to some of the chiropractic modalities and functions by restoring function by reducing “subluxations” as is done in chiropractic care.  It uses a hand-held device that is similar to the device used in the popular human chiropractic technique called “Activator Methods” but it is not to be confused with that technique. 

VOM exists in a gray area between both professions (Veterinary and Chiropractic) and benefits from the positive aspects of both, a hybrid, and thus more effective than either by themselves.

VOM is not animal chiropractic care and thus is not taught by the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association (AVCA).  VOM is not recognized by the AVCA (the AVCA does not recognize anything it does not teach).

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) does not recognize veterinary chiropractic care or the AVCA.

VOM is formally recognized in Washington State, by the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, Association of Pet Dog Trainers, the Maine Veterinary Medical Association, and the German Shepherd Clubs of America, to name a few.

3.  How was VOM developed?

VOM was developed by William Inman, BS, BS, DVM, CVCP, in Seattle, WA, in Dr. Inman’s clinical practice from July of 1982 to this date.

Before Dr. Inman began using these non-invasive techniques he was an accomplished veterinary surgeon and still consults in veterinary surgery.  His vacillation to VOM from surgery reflects his frustration in ineffective surgical solutions to common veterinary medical problems.  VOM was developed in a vacuum, meaning it was developed with a trail and error approach in a clinical setting without input from other sources. 

4.  Why is VOM so accurate?

VOM finds and reduces all neuronal subluxations.  All neuronal subluxations have a pathological reflex demonstrably associated with them.  A pathological reflex is like a knee jerk response.  It is either there, or it is not.  It is an objective means to determine the presence and reduction of neuronal subluxation.  The pathological d is not “partially there”, “kinda there” or “almost there” adding a factor of subjectivity to interpretation.  VOM is a precisely objective science.

5.  What is the difference between Chiropractic Listings and VOM Pathological Reads?

All chiropractic techniques (veterinary and human) rely on the chiropractic listing to determine the presence of a subluxation.  Through manual palpation, a misplaced bone prominence or a taught and tender muscle may be discovered by a competent veterinary chiropractor whose patient is cooperative and relaxed.  This is a listing, an anatomical subluxation sign, and almost always is indicative of a neuronal subluxation syndrome.  Unfortunately, only 40% of all neuronal subluxations produce palpable anatomical subluxation signs.  This means over half of all the animal’s subluxations will be overlooked if anatomical listings used as a means to discover them.  The good news is that all neuronal subluxations produce a pathological reading, and all these reads are obvious and easy to discover and reduce.  The goal of an adjustment in an animal is to reduce all the vertebral subluxations.  Subluxation reduction based on anatomical listings will get approximately half of the total neurological subluxations present in the animal.  Subluxation reduction based on pathological reads will get them all, and will verify that they have been reduced.  Fast, easy, effective!

6.  How does it work?

All chiropractic modalities have one thing in common in that they all reduce the vertebral subluxation complex by providing motion or force to the fixated or subluxated joint.

Spinal Injury = Neuronal Subluxation Syndrome = Pathological Read

Neuronal subluxation + Motion (force) = Subluxation Reduced

So, if you put motion into a joint that is associated with a neuronal subluxation sign, you reduce the subluxation.  It is that simple.  All the various types of chiropractic techniques have this motion or force into the subluxated joint in common.

7.  Can VOM hurt my pet?

No!  The beauty of the VOM technology is that it provides the exact amount of force to the subluxated joint needed to reduce the subluxation without having to induce a lot of motion.  It is motion that can potentially injure the animal (torsion, twisting, etc).  The device trades motion for speed to maintain the force needed to reduce the subluxation through Newton’s Second Law of Motion (force = mass X acceleration).  In over 35,000 animal adjustments including pets with fractures, tumors, and acute spinal diseases, no pet has been injured with the adjusting tool. 

8.  Why not just use your hands like other Veterinary Chiropractors?

Because our hands are too slow.  The fastest an excellent veterinary chiropractor can move a joint under optimum conditions and patient cooperation is 80 milliseconds.  The animals natural reflexive resistance to adjustment is 20 milliseconds or 4 times faster.  This demonstrates the need for patient relaxation and cooperation and is the reason that excellent technique is imperative for success using manual adjusting.  Conversely, the device used by VOM practitioners, fires at a rate of 2-4 milliseconds which is 5-10 times faster than the animals ability to resist adjustment.  Therefore, the patient is always adjusted, every time, all the time, whether they want to or not, in any position, attitude or mood. 

9.  What kind of results should I expect?

You may see a response while your pet is on the examination table.  The average case will see some sort of positive response within the first week and commonly the entering clinical complaint will be gone within the first three adjustments.  However, it will take more adjustments to cure the problem.  Cases that show no response within the first month may not resolve towards a satisfactory solution.  Cases that have had paralysis or lack of function for years or months may not respond well to VOM, however similar cases have had good results.

10.  Why do I have to come back?

The body has gotten used to functioning in a sort of state out of communication and the nervous system has thrown up a nerve adaptation that allows some marginal level of function.  The body develops a pseudo-memory f how it has “adapted”.  When the body is re-introduced to functioning correctly, that system wins out for a stretch of time until the nagging pseudo-memory of the neuronal adaptation re-expresses itself on the body again and the body slips “out of adjustment”.  Systematic readjustment on a succinct schedule then finally wins out over the pseudo-adaptive memory and further adjustments are not necessary. 

11. When do you see treatment failures?

Treatment failures fall into two categories:

            1. Neurological damage is extensive, significant and permanent.

2.  VOM treatment schedule not kept (most common cause of VOM failure and easiest to prevent).