A Pet's View / July 2006
PT for Pets
Pets often have the same traumas that people do, fractures from a car accident, a ruptured disc or degenerative joint disease. The injuries or illnesses affect elbows, hips, knees, backs and control of bladder and bowels for animals just like they do for people.
But animals, and particularly dogs, are benefitting from the underwater treadmills, electrical stimulation, range-of-motion exercises, massage and other equipment and techniques derived from physical therapy for people patients.
Veterinary rehabilitation is a a relatively new but quickly growing field. Vets say the focus on animal rehab reflects people’s expectations-and the success-of their own physical therapy. experts say physical rehabilitation can be a helpful tool for animals that are recovering from surgery for orthopedic or neurological problems, have incurred injuries to joints or soft tissue, or suffer from chronic pain.
Rehab can help pets recover more quickly, increase mobility and flexibility, improve endurance and agility, and reduce the need for pain medication. Before surgery, rehab can help pets lose weight, reduce pain and gain muscle, all of which can eliminate the need for surgery or improve its success. And after surgery, weeks of cage rest have been replaced by rehab techniques that begin almost immediately, including cold therapy to reduce inflammation. It’s also popular for conditioning athletic or working dogs.
Pets who benefit from the physical therapy include those with developmental diseases like hip and elbow dysplasia. Owners of top field trial dogs often are looking for a conditioning program to help prevent injury. And, the everyday pet owner may just want to help an older pets whose joints have stiffened with age.
Besides the typical desire by owners to offer their beloved pets the same type of care they receive, the growing popularity of rehab may be related to outside factors like more dog sports. Many people exercise, walk, run and ride bikes with their dogs. People want their dogs too to be safe and healthy.
Because pets are living longer, more of them are facing health issues that affect mobility, such as osteoarthritis. Helping older pets maintain quality of life and mobility is becoming another new area of veterinary medicine.
Rehabilitation is mostly used in dogs, who are more prone to injury than cats. But practitioners also see felines, especially those that have had a limb amputated, suffer neurologic problems, have arthritis or are just plain fat.
Pudgy dogs go in for rehab, too.
Finding a pet rehab specialist can be a challenge since the field is so new. Start by asking the family veterinarian for a recommendation. It may be helpful to check with equipment manufacturers to see if anyone locally has, purchased equipment like an underwater treadmill which they may be using for rehab.
The University of Tennessee offers a certification in canine rehabilitation. Their website has a page that lists a number of facilities that perform animal rehabilitation, http://www.utc.edu/Faculty/David-Levine/#LinksGeneral. Although none are listed for West Virgina, Grafton, Dayton and Worthington, Ohio are listed as having veterinary rehabilitation practitioners.
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