Dr. Belke’s Story:

For years patient’s have been asking me if I adjust my dogs, and my response has always been “No, because I have no idea on how to do that”. With the encouragement of my wife, patients and local veterinarians, I decided to go back to school at the Healing Oasis Center in 2024. Through the teaching and guidance of Dr. Pedro Rivera and his excellent staff, I was able to get an exceptional education on both large and small animal manipulative therapy through the lens of a functional neurologist. Now one may ask “why would an animal need to get adjusted?” The answer to that is very similar to that of why a human would get adjusted. We are looking for proper biomechanics and reducing inflammatory components which could be leading to neurological symptoms. Since an animal can not directly talk back to us, we must be even more in tune with the proper joint mechanics and neurological findings (which I will say has made my human chiropractic practice even better). Whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, any animal can benefit in some way, shape or form from a manipulative therapy procedure given it is safe to perform. In the state of Florida, in order to receive chiropractic treatment by a chiropractor, a veterinarian must make a referral before doing so. In my opinion any chiropractor practicing on an animal without receiving proper training by a registered educational facility in animal manipulative therapy is being negligent. Also keep in mind that the procedures we see in the chiropractic social media world are more based on “shock value” and tend to be overkill for what is actually needed. If you have any questions or would like your animal to be evaluated, please feel free to contact the office.