Welcome to the International Association of Veterinary Chiropractitioners

Veterinary Somato-Visceral Therapy

(VSVT)

What is Veterinary Somato-Visceral Disease?

The term “somato” refers to the somatic system or the musculo-skeletal system of the body. VOM, for the most part up to this point involves the musculo-skeletal system, treatment and diagnosis, through the use of pathological reflexive patterns.

These patterns make up a classic spinal reflex arc and the use of these reflex arcs is basic to the diagnosis aspect of the VOM Technology. The reflex arc relies on the skeletal muscle fibers to indicate the presence of a subluxation.

As a quick review, the presence of an injury artificially raises the threshold of the reflexive pattern up to a level very close to it’s being able to be fired. The adjusting device then merely adds its own impetus to the potential reflex arc and exceeds the threshold in the facilitated segment, and the reflex is fired, the muscles fasciculate and the VOM practitioner experiences the “read”.

Location of the Subluxation Phenomenon in VSVT

For the purpose of the application of the Somato-Visceral Technology to the diseases of the visceral organs, we are, for the sake of simplicity, going to consider the cell body of origin of the subluxation to be at any or all of theses sites:

1. The interneuron at the spinal facilitated segment (somatic)

2. The pre-vertebral ganglion

3. The para-vertebral ganglion

4. The cranio-sacral centers of the parasympathetic nervous system

5. The paraspinal thoracic centers of the sympathetic nervous system

Any and all of these areas can and will affect the visceral organs and the direction of healing VOM pulses to these areas are needed to initiate healing.

Anatomy of Subluxation Sites

Autonomic nervous system anatomy can get a bit confusing but understanding the mammals parasympathetic and sympathetic “plumbing”, can explain what we see in somato-visceral diseases and explain how we treat them.

What Can VSVT Treat?

Gastrointestinal diseases
Hepatic disease
Endocrine diseases
Some neoplasia
Myeloproliferative disorders
Diseases of the equine foot
Allergic and autoimmune disease
Slow-healing conditions
Behavioral disorders
Performance problems
Epileptiform disease
Proprioceptive deficits
Many more

There are over 440 specific animal diseases that respond well to VSVT and many more that are undergoing clinical evaluation.

Veterinary Somato-Visceral Therapy represents one of the most promising developing therapies in veterinary medicine today