Farm-Based Electro Therapy Business

Farm-Based Electro Therapy Business SPECIALTY/SERVICES Specialty/Services 30-2-6 A love of horses and an investment in a new career helped Avis Estabrooks do what she's always wanted to do ù work from home. Home is a farm, on a dead end gravel road, amid the pines and fields of Sebeka, Minn. Customers don't seem to mind her off-the-beaten-path location. They bring their horses and themselves for electro therapy treatments. Several years ago, Estabrooks felt burnt out from long hours as a beautician. She learned that electro therapy, which has been used on humans since the late 1970's, was also being used on horses. Since she enjoyed working with horses and many people in her area own horses, she decided to invest in the training and equipment to become a therapist. Electro therapy does not heal. It helps the body heal itself by stimulating the supply of blood and oxygen to an injured area. The machines send low voltage micro current to damaged neural and connective tissue to restore the body's normal electrical conductivity. The process is simple. With injuries or wounds, Estabrooks tapes small metal plates around the area. She connects them with cables to the equipment, and she sets the appropriate current. She watches the animal's reaction and the biofeedback reading to find specific areas that need treating. Rising biofeedback numbers indicate improvement. Typically, the hour-long treatments are done three days in a row. Estabrooks observes the horse for four days, then resumes treatment for another three days. She keeps the horse confined so it doesn't re-injure itself by doing too much as it begins to feel better. The horse must first be diagnosed by a vet before she'll accept it for treatment, Estabrooks emphasizes. The therapy helps dozens of conditions, including everything from splints and joint inflammation to arthritic joints and bowed tendons. Besides injuries, the therapy reduces pain and heals wounds faster. Early treatment prevents scar tissue that can cause problems later on. It's non-invasive and painless. The big payoff is that it speeds up healing by at least one-third. For older, arthritic horses, Estabrooks does a systemic treatment using hand-held probes down the spine and over the front and hindquarters. As she built up her equine therapy business, Estabrooks continued to work as a beautician at an area business. In 2005, she and her family moved to her grandparents' 80-acre farm. She built a new shop that includes space for cutting hair, a tanning bed and a room for electro therapy for humans. Many of her clients are older, Estabrooks says, with arthritis or chronic pain. For her equine clients, Estabrooks converted an old garage into a three-stall treatment area. Between the three services ù beautician, electro therapy for humans and electro therapy for horses ù Estabrooks makes a living staying home. Electro therapy is becoming more widely appreciated among horse owners ù especially with performance horses. There is room for more people trained to operate the equipment. For anyone interested in starting a business, Estabrooks suggests the following. • Research companies to make sure they offer sufficient training and follow-up assistance so you know how to run the equipment properly. Type "equine electro therapy" into any internet search engine. Estabrooks trained for three different weeklong sessions, and totaled 500 treatments before earning certification. • There are many brands of equipment to choose from, ranging from $2,500 to $20,000. Some equipment offers computerized biofeedback readouts, which saves record-keeping time, but is more expensive. One feature Estabrooks thinks is important is equipment that won't overtreat. When she gets a migraine, for example, she hooks herself up to the machine and often falls asleep, which is not a problem with her equipment. • Start out as a sideline business. Get the word out about your services to local stables and area rodeos. Estabrooks occasionally barrel races and team ropes, and many of her clients know her from various events. Occasionall

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.