Structural and Functional Assessment of the Equine Spine - Cervical Online Module

Dr. Haussler obtained a B.S. in agriculture from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1984. He graduated in 1988 from The Ohio State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, followed by a small animal internship at the Sacramento Animal Medical Group in 1989. Dr. Haussler was a relief veterinarian for multiple small animal practices, emergency clinics, and humane societies from 1989 to 1994, when he became interested in pursuing further specialized training in the diagnosis and management of pain and musculoskeletal disorders in animals.

He enrolled in Palmer College of Chiropractic-West, a human chiropractic program, to learn how to apply human chiropractic techniques and principles to the treatment of animals with musculoskeletal-related disorders. Dr. Haussler started veterinary chiropractic practice with equine and small animal patients in 1992.  He graduated with a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic-West in 1993.

Dr. Haussler went on to obtain a PhD in Comparative Pathology from the University of California-Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine in 1997. The focus of his PhD research was the evaluation of the anatomy, pathology, and biomechanics of the lower back and pelvis of Thoroughbred racehorses.

He then went on to complete postdoctoral training investigating in vivo equine spinal kinematics in 1999 at the Department of Anatomy, College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University and was invited to be a Lecturer at Cornell University until 2005, where he was responsible for teaching equine anatomy, biomechanical research, and initiation of a clinical Integrative Medicine Service at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals in both the large and small animal clinics that provided chiropractic, acupuncture, and physical therapy services. Dr. Haussler’s research studies have included the evaluation of in vivo equine spinal kinematics, paraspinal muscle morphometry and histochemistry, and the initiation of equine chiropractic research assessing pain and spinal flexibility.

In 2010, Dr. Haussler was invited to be a founding member of the new specialty college, The American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, where he has served in several Board of Directors' positions and as a committee chair.  Currently, Dr. Haussler is an Associate Professor at the Orthopaedic Research Center in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University where he has continued research interests in objective assessment of musculoskeletal pain and the diagnosis and treatment of spinal dysfunction.