From World Bird Sanctuary
Chiropractic care for birds? We're trying something new for some of our patients with torticollis, a condition where the head is twisted partially or fully upside down! Torticollis can be the result of a number of injuries including head trauma, lead toxicity, and infections. Physical therapy has long been a part of our treatment for torticollis, but isn't always effective. We'd like to thank Heather Seaver for her donation of her chiropractic services to give some of these patients another care option to help them recover. So far, chiropractic seems to be very relaxing to the patients receiving it.
Shown is Barred Owl 24-519 during a chiropractic session. The chiropractic seems to help relax him and there was notable improvement to his muscle tension after his session. 519 is suffering from lead poisoning, some older ocular trauma, and torticollis. When he was found, he kept making it up into a tree but was then not able to fly straight and kept falling back to the ground. This could be from the torticollis, or from the lead poisoning which is causing him to clench his feet and legs abnormally some of the time.
I was a bit surprised to see this. I know there tends to be some debate on if chiropractics is a good thing or not. I'd be very nervous with those hollow bones!
Huh. I honestly didn't give it much thought when I made the comment. Just kinda thought anything other than 180° and 360° might not be clear, and 180° seemed too low.
The "normal" amount is considered 270 degrees, 135 degrees to either side. The anatomy is pretty amazing though. We'd sufficate ourselves, break our necks, or cut off bloodflow, but the owls are designed with all of those things in mind. It's amazing how fancy something like a neck can get!