Meet the chiropractor who has helped 20,000 animals with bad backs

By Samuel Wightwick via SWNS

Meet the man who is a licensed chiropractor - for animals.

Dr. Joren Whitley, 34, has been running his chiropractic clinic since 2016 and sees an average of 80 animals a week.

Since he began practicing, Joren has performed over 25,000 chiropractic adjustments on pets and on more exotic animals like giraffes, tapirs and even a tiger.

The vast majority of animals Joren treats, whether large or small, are fully conscious, but the riskier ones are sedated.

Joren, from Edmond, Okla., said: "I believe what we are doing is making a massive difference not just in the lives of the animals but in the lives of the owners.

"Chiropractic is what I live and breathe. I didn't choose to be a chiropractor. It was my calling.

"I'm glad that I get the opportunity to make such a difference in the lives of so many!"

Joren graduated from Oklahoma State University in 2012 with a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology.

After realizing that a job in a lab wasn’t for him, he decided to return to work in construction - a job that he had done from the age of 16.

After an injury on the site, Joren went to see his first chiropractor and this is when he fell in love with the profession.

He applied to chiropractic school in January 2013 and in his final year he enrolled in the animal chiropractic program.

After four years of combined study, Joren graduated from chiropractic college and received his license to practice human and animal chiropractic.

Joren said: "When joints of the body, whether it be human or animal, don't move through their normal range of motion, we call this a subluxation.

"This causes the joint not to react properly to stress.

"Over time, this inability to adapt to stress causes inflammation in the joints and causes the bones around them to change shape producing spondylosis, or arthritic spurs.

"This is when people and animals require help."

Joren treats domestic animals like cats and dogs but also travels to zoos and safari parks to help animals in need.

He said: "I have worked with the Oklahoma City Zoo here and the East London Zoo in South Africa.

"The remainder of the exotic animals are owned by private owners here in the states. 

"Most of the time they call me when they realize that their animal could benefit from chiropractic care.

"I also reach out to zoos or organizations in order to help educate them on how chiropractic could be beneficial to their animals.

"There is a very clear lack of understanding or knowing that chiropractic for animals exists."

The animals Joren works on come in a range of sizes so he has to adapt his treatments.

He said: "In school we learned how to work on small animals based on the spine of a dog and larger animals based on the spine of a horse.

"From there, there will be variations but most of the variations will be slight in nature."

If he's called to work on an animal he hasn't treated previously, Joren ensures he goes back and studies it.

He said: "I spend a lot of time at the Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma City.

"They have a very large catalog of spines ranging from humans to aquatic animals to things you’d find in Africa like the elephants, rhinos and giraffes.

"Any animal that I have not previously worked on is available for me to examine and study.

"So when I have the opportunity to work on that animal, I fully understand how it’s spine is supposed to move or what is not supposed to move."

"I am able to adapt the spine of one animal to that of another, like the horse and zebra, which should be similar.

"A giraffe will have a very similar spine but the size of the vertebrae or the length of the bones will differ.

"These variations not only change the overall size and shape but also the physiology and biomechanics of each animal.

"That changes how I would then approach each adjustment."