Advances in veterinary medicine have been incredible in the last 20 years and physical rehabilitation has become one of the most recent advances in animal health. Similar to its human counterpart (physical therapy), companion animal rehabilitation can be used to recover and prevent injury. The major goals in rehabilitation are to decrease inflammation and swelling, which cause pain, and to increase the range of joint motion, mobility, strength, and accelerate tissue repair.
Research has indicated that loss of muscle mass begins 24 hours following surgery or serious injury. Stiffening of the joints and loss of muscle tone and control occurs when rehabilitation is delayed. Our goal is to minimize the recovery period of your pet as well as increase mobility and overall quality of life.
Specific Rehabilitation Benefits:
- Quicker recovery from injury and surgeries
- Reduced pain
- Reduced need for pain medications
- Increased joint mobility and flexibility
- Muscle gain
- Weight loss
- Helps geriatric dogs with arthritis and mobility problems and chronic pain
- Conditioning of athletic and working dogs
When to consider rehabilitative therapy?
- Post-operative pain, inflammation, decreased mobility following soft tissue, orthopedic or neurological surgeries
- Retraining athletic dogs following injury, surgery, or illness (‘return to sports!’)
- Improving mobility, muscle strength, and balance for arthritic dogs
- Maximizing mobility and balance for neuromuscular disease and injury patients
- Post-amputation patients
Some conditions that respond well to physical rehabilitation:
Orthopedic Conditions:
- Cranial Cruciate Ligament Tears (post-surgical and non-surgical recovery)
- Osteoarthritis
- Hip Dysplasia
- Patellar Luxation Repairs
- Fractures
- Osteochondritis Dessicans
- Soft Tissue Injuries (Tendinopathies and Muscular injuries)
- Hip dysplasia
- FHO (Femoral Head and Neck Ostectomies)
- Elbow surgeries and arthroscopy
- Amputations
- Stiffness and mobility problems
Neurological Conditions:
- Degenerative Myelopathy
- Fibrocartilaginous Emboli
- Intervertebral Disc Disease/Disc herniations
- Lumbosacral Stenosis
General Health/Wellness:
- Obesity-Weight loss
- Cardiovascular Fitness
- Athletic conditioning