Benefits of Physical Therapy

Rehabilitative therapy can offer improvements to animals who have been diagnosed with a wide range of functional disabilities, including:

• Spinal cord injuries
• Joint injuries
• Arthritis
• Gait abnormalities
• Soft tissue injuries
• Geriatric conditions

Improvements seen through the use of physical therapy include:

• Rate of recovery following an injury
• Rate of recovery after a surgical procedure
• Pain reduction
• Strength and range of motion increase
• Weight loss
• Quality of life improvement

Types of Rehabilitation Therapies

Manual Therapy

Performed by certified therapists, manual therapy helps to relieve muscle tension and stimulate muscle development through:

• Exercise
• Therapeutic stretches
• Massage
• Joint mobilization

Hydrotherapy

Using water as its mode, hydrotherapy works with animals to improve their muscle and joint function. Methods focus on activities that minimize stress on the joints, for example:

• Swimming
• Walking on an underwater treadmill

Two examples of animals benefiting from hydrotherapy include animals:

• With torn ligaments
• Recovering from surgery

Electrotherapy

Electrotherapy works in multiple ways through its ability to affect both the sensory and motor nerves at the cellular, tissue, and segmental levels. This form of therapy benefits animals of:

• Postoperative care
• Orthopedic injuries
• Chronic conditions
• Hip dysplasia
• Pain management care as they work through difficult therapy procedures

Electrotherapy works to:

• Heal wounds
• Manage or control pain
• Reduce inflammation
• Increase local blood circulation
• Strengthen and rehabilitate muscles
• Prevent or reverse muscle atrophy
• Maintain or increase joint mobility

This type of therapy is administered through the use of:

• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)
• Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES)
• Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF)

Laser Therapy

Laser therapy works through the use of therapeutic low-level lasers to benefit animals feeling pain due to wounds. 
Laser therapy works to:

• Manage pain
• Control inflammation
• Heal wound tissues
• Reduce edema

Hot and Cold Therapies

Thermography provides therapy to animals through the use of heat and benefits animals with arthritis and muscle spasms.
The heat therapy works to:

• Reduce pain
• Relax muscles
• Reduce muscle spasms
• Quicken healing
• Prepare tissues for stretching

Thermography is administered through the use of:

• Heat packs
• Warmed, moist towels
• Infrared light
• Hydrotherapy

Cryotherapy provides therapy through the use of cold applications and benefits animals who are postoperative or who have been injured.
The cold therapy works to:

• Reduce cellular edema
• Decrease muscle spasms
• Constrict blood vessels
• Reduce cellular metabolism

Cryotherapy is administered through the use of:

• Ice bath
• Ice pack
• Massage
• Vapocoolant gel or circulating ice compression units

Therapeutic Ultrasonography

Therapeutic ultrasonography uses sound waves applied directly to the skin to create a vibration in the underlying tissues and benefits animals suffering from joint swelling, muscle spasms, and bicipital tenosynovitis.
Therapeutic ultrasonography works to:

• Create a deep local heating
• Increase blood flow
• Break down scar tissue

While exercise is beneficial to maintain muscle and preserve joint flexibility, the wrong type of exercise can be counterproductive. Determining the type of rehabilitative therapy needed will depend upon the veterinarian’s diagnosis and the severity of the animal’s condition.

For more tips on expressing the benefits of rehabilitative therapy to your clients, contact your Covetrus representative today at  855.724.3461.

Information taken from:
https://www.vetinfo.com/aquatic-therapy-for-dogs.html
http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/exploring-physical-therapy-modalities-veterinary-rehabilitation?ref=canonical
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/02/03/benefits-of-physical-therapy-for-dogs.aspx
https://www.vetinfo.com/dog-mobility-physical-therapy.html