Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation for your animal might be necessary for a variety of reasons, for example, following injury or surgery. The aims of rehabilitation are to facilitate a return to normal function and well-being, or in some cases to help your animal to be more comfortable and more able to cope with an ongoing condition. Many techniques can be used to help achieve this, including the physical therapies described on other pages. In addition to these, modalities such as electrotherapy, proprioceptive facilitation, and targetted exercise programmes can be used. As with the physical therapies, these are based on biological principles, taking into account which tissues have been damaged, how they heal, how long they take to heal, what their functions are, how they are currently being used by the animal, and how they are affected by various modalities. It is always important to consider the whole animal (not just for example the sore leg!) and to work closely with the owner(s).

Electrotherapy

Electrotherapy is the use of electric current applied to the skin. Pads are held against the skin, with a gel or water used to ensure there is good contact. The amount of current, frequency and duration of pulses affect different tissues. TENS settings allow relief of pain while the unit is being used, but have no residual effect. Different settings cause muscle contraction and these can give pain relief that continues after the session, and can also help where loss of muscle tissue is a problem.

Proprioceptive facilitation

Techniques such as sports or kinesiotaping and Therabanding can be used to help encourage animals to use their muscles in the correct way. Both techniques rely on 'proprioception' or the sense of touch - a stretchy tape or thick rubber band on the skin causes a gentle tugging sensation that the animal tries to avoid. When the tape or band is correctly applied, we can encourage the animal to move in a more desirable way, for example using weaker muscles to build up tone.

Targetted exercise programmes

The amount and type of exercises given to your animal will depend on the rehabilitation goals, the tissues injured, their location and the stage of healing. It will also depend on the facilities available to you, for example in horse rehab we might make use of poles, hills, water, inhand or ridden exercises at various gaits. Dogs could use steps, sit-stand, poles, balance boards, or a number of other exercises. There is no 'one size fits all' recipe, as each animal is different and rehabilitation should be customised for each case.