Abstract
Background: Horses are athletic animals that are placed under large amounts of stress in order to deliver to the best of their ability when competing. Comparable to human athletes, horse athletes are prone to injury. Equine chiropractic has proved to be one of the most utilised forms of Complementary and Alternative Veterinarian Medicine (CAVM), which provides a drug free approach to maintaining a horse’s musculoskeletal (MSK) system. However, this field still lacks research. Studies on CAVM therapies have shown that the growth of these fields are strongly linked to the public’s perception about the field. Horse owners are the primary contact point between a professional and the horse, and because of this, they directly influence the utilisation of equine chiropractic. Thus, it is important to determine the knowledge, perception and utilisation of equine chiropractic by horse owners in South Africa, as there is limited data on this.
Aim: The primary aim of this study was to determine the knowledge, utilisation and perception of equine chiropractic by horse owners whose horses have competed in sanctioned events.
Method: This study employed a quantitative, cross-sectional study design. The participants in this study were horse owners in South Africa who own horses that compete in sanctioned events.
Procedure: For this study, participants were recruited at sanctioned equestrian events and by approaching training yards to distribute the questionnaire to their clients. Willing participants were then given a link to an online questionnaire. This link also gave them access to the information letter and consent form.
Results and Discussion: One hundred and five horse owners completed the questionnaire. The majority of the respondents were female and have been treated by a chiropractor themselves.
This study shows that all the 105 participants owned at least one horse that competes in sanctioned events. All of the participants indicated that they have made use of
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CAVM therapies for their horse. Physiotherapy was the most utilised CAVM therapy (71.4%), followed closely by equine chiropractic (67.6%).
Respondents’ overall subjective knowledge was that they had ‘some knowledge’ about the field of equine chiropractic and 84.8% of respondents indicated that they received this information, that was overall favourable to equine chiropractic, from a chiropractor.
An overwhelming majority of 98% of participants expressed an interest in future utilisation of equine chiropractic which is promising for the future of equine chiropractic as a profession in South Africa. Although they did indicate that they would be interested in receiving more information on equine chiropractic techniques.
Conclusion: Respondents showed a positive perception towards equine chiropractic. Their overall knowledge of equine chiropractic was accurate, and they expressed an interest in the future utilisation of equine chiropractic.
Key words: horse owners, equine chiropractic, knowledge, utilisation, perception.