How does physiotherapy work for my dog?
Your physiotherapy session will begin by obtaining a thorough history about your dog, helping establish areas of concern. This is followed by a gait assessment which analyses your dog’s movement during various paces and possibly over different terrains, giving additional information of underlying structures which may need further analysis. Assessing your dog’s change in position (standing to sitting to lying etc) also supplies further information about areas requiring further examination. Finally, a head to tail soft tissue palpation, spinal and joint range of motion assessment and appropriate neurological tests will be undertaken.
Treatment techniques may include soft tissue mobilisation, joint mobilisation, dry needling, stretching, strength and balance exercises, agility tasks, neuromuscular electrical stimulation and finish with a home exercise program to further enhance your dogs recovery.
Some conditions which may benefit from physiotherapy include:
- Arthritis
- Elbow or hip dysplasia
- Cranial cruciate disease (conservative management and post surgery)
- Soft tissue injuries (common in agility dogs)
- Tendon or ligament Injuries
- Spinal cord injury
- Fibrocarilaginous embolism
- Intervertebral disc disease
- Chronic degenerative radiculomyelopathy (often involving palliative treatment for comfort)
- Nerve palsy
- Amputees
- Post trauma
- Rehabilitation pre-surgery to improve strength and conditioning
- Post surgery rehabilitation
- Post cancer treatment
- Cardiovascular disease
- Age related mobility and/or joint issues
- Obesity