Emma Fretwell

I am a Chiropractor, originally qualified in 2000, with a wealth of clinical experience. I gained a diploma in Chiropractic, a BSc in Chiropractic from Oxford Brookes, and have completed much CPD and post graduate courses. I run my own business, in many different guises over the course of this time, culminating in a very successful human chiropractic business - Emerald Chiropractic - based in Evesham, Worcestershire. We incorporate hands on treatment, as well as prescriptive exercises and physical rehabilitation of the body.

I also qualified to treat animals at the same time, originally from Oxford College of Chiropractic (no longer in existence), then progressing to USA and Germany, to complete the Basic course at Options for Animals in 2004, the course being brought over to Germany (IAVC) at the time. I have since the Advanced course both in Germany and in US.

Background

The inception of the International Veterinary Chiropractic Association, then based in Germany, in 2004, ran by a Managing Committee of Vets and Chiropractors, and then through the initial huge growth years, saw me being elected onto the Managing Committee in 2006, through to 2011. This role involved set up and implementation of CPD for the members; setting up and implementation of education standards, and the subsequent school accreditation process internationally; organising and promoting the AGM and CPD weekend once per year, as well as the day to day running of the association, alongside my busy practice!

The one role that excited me with the IVCA was being Head Of Clinical Research for 4 years. I have applied successfully for 2 research grants from the IVCA, and overseen 4 other applications for some amazing research in this field. It was a difficult task to motivate the membership to consider Research, however it is one of my big passions. My first piece of research was for Chiropractic and Diary Cows: Does chiropractic affect the somatic cell count and Milk yield for Diary Cows. The answer was an over-riding yes! The second research project is on the gait analysis on dogs before and after chiropractic treatment, with a blind study too. This is still in the analysis phase and will be ready to progress forward soon.

I met a Veterinarian called Rachel Mowbray, based in Dursley, Gloucestershire. She had brought her little dog Meg in to see me for a chiropractic check up. She and I initiated a change of focus of my animal chiropractic career, and I soon started working for Vale Vets on a regular basis. This is a big referral hospital, and the knowledge base that this opened up and created for me was vast. I was working on a weekly basis with Rachel in Vale Vets, and the focus was originally on sporting dogs, and then other vets started to refer into us, and we became the go to place for all the chronic lame cases or cases where local vets just didn’t have enough knowledge or time to investigate properly.

My differential diagnostic skills have increased beyond measure, and from this basis, we ploughed forward with Vale Vets and instigated a rehabilitation centre, Pet Rehab, with big team of people, from ACPAT Physios and Chiropractors, Acupuncturists, Sports Massage therapists, Hydrotherapists, Bowen therapists amongst many others, where the skill set as a whole is great, and the clinical reasoning behind each decision and case has had at least 3 minds concentrating on this at any one time.

My connections in the Dog Agility world saw myself being elected as Team Chiropractor for the Kennel Club Team GB in 2009. I have represented Team GB twice per year at the European Opens, and the World Championships until 2015, where I graciously stood down with new team management taking on the mantle. I have also represented Team England for the World Agility Championships, and Team GB for the IFCS World Championships since this time, again as Team Chiropractor. My role with the teams was to ensure the dogs were fit and strong enough to compete on the international arena, consulting on and implementing fitness plans, strength training, maintaining tip top health, and trying to patch up minor injuries to enable the competitors to run, consulting on both human and dog competitors!