Module 3: Physiotherapy

Why do physio?

Physiotherapy is not just a medical treatment or profession; it is also a way to improve life

quality. It’s a way to make the life of your pet more comfortable which, in turn, should make

him happier. So, the benefits of physiotherapy are not only physical, but mental as well.

Whether it is because of injury or some medical condition, you should try physiotherapy for

your pet, but only after you have sought a course of treatment from a pet physiotherapist.

There are many types of physiotherapy. Taking your dog swimming or giving it a good back

rub may act as physiotherapy (if prescribed). Playing with your cat for half an hour or more

each day, so she could stretch her muscles a bit, instead of sleeping all day may be

prescribed for therapy. Use physio for your elderly pet to increase mobility in the joints. If your

dog had an accident, your therapist would most likely ask you to continue treatments at home

to rebuild muscle strength and help your dog recover faster. Lots of different types of physical

therapy exist.

In this module we will look at several types of physiotherapy that may be prescribed for your

pet. Are you ready to continue? Let’s read on.

3.1 Hydrotherapy

3.2 Laser

3.3 Electrotherapy

3.4 Cold therapy (Cryotherapy)

3.5 Therapeutic Ultrasound

3.6 Therapeutic exercises

3.7 Acupuncture

3.8 Massage

3.1 Hydrotherapy

Does your pet like to swim? Or take baths?

Hydrotherapy is the use of water for, well, you

guessed it - therapy. And when we talk about water

here, we can talk about it being used in all the states:

liquid, solid (ice) and gas. In hydrotherapy, the

temperature (hot, warm or cold) is the most

important factor. However, there may also be a

mechanical stimulus – for example, the use of

massage jets or rubbing your pet with a cloth while he’s in the pool. Additionally, substances

may be added to the water to create a chemical stimulus. (Think about an oatmeal bath for

humans or the addition of essential oils into a bath.)

Types of Hydrotherapy

When you are at the physio’s office you may see a special pool designed for your pet. This

pool is often smaller than a regular pool, with ramps for easy entrance and exit, and, most

likely, it is heated. It is this physio pool that is often used for prescribed exercise for your pet,

for example swimming (with or without the hydro jets on) to increase muscular strength.

Hydrotherapy pools are excellent as they require your pet to use many muscle groups.

Additionally, a pool allows for strengthening of muscles in a non-weight bearing setting.

(Think about running on a treadmill vs. water running in a pool. Definitely less stress on the

joints when you are in the pool.) And finally, the water can provide increased resistance. But,

what if you don’t have a pool at home? Bathing, washing, watering, and showering your dog

may be done at home and all can be used for hydrotherapy.

Bathing and washing your dog can have more than a positive effect on the smell of your pet.

By using water at a moderate temperature to wash and bathe, there is also a beneficial effect

on the tone of the neuromuscular system. Pouring water (watering) on a specific area of your

pet is also used as hydrotherapy process, but more often than not, the water is colder than

that used for bathing and washing, and specifically directed to one area – for example the

forelimbs.

And how about a shower! Who doesn’t love that? Well, showering is a form of hydrotherapy

with a mechanical stimulus (that’s because of the shower head).

Once your pet physiotherapist has shared with you the proper temperature for showering

your dog (as temperatures could be anywhere from hot to cold) and where you should focus

the shower spray, you can easily continue this course of treatment at home.

Benefits of Hydrotherapy

The benefits of hydrotherapy for you fur baby (because aren’t they always our fur babies –

no matter how old they are) are many. Dependent on what your pet is being treated for, you

might see:

Increased range of motion

Muscle strengthening

Relief from pain, swelling and stiffness

Increased tissue healing

Improved circulation

Increased speed of recovery

NOTE: Wraps

Wraps may also be considered a form of hydrotherapy because of their use of water. Cold

wraps, warm wraps, and warm-wet wraps can all be therapeutic in nature. Let your

physiotherapist decide whether a warm or cold wrap is most appropriate for your pet. It is

possible to jump the wrong way and do harm, for example, cold wraps are best after surgery

as it helps reduce swelling, but once healing has taken place they may suggest a change to

warm wraps.

Cold wraps

are comprised of several layers and soaked in cold water (or used

in conjunction with ice cubes) to lower temperature or reduce

swelling on an inflamed area – just like you put an ice pack on your

ankle if you twisted it.

Warm wraps

are prepared with heated water and often used to aid a pet’s

tissues, muscles or tendons – similar to you applying a heat pack

to aid your sore muscles after strenuous exercise.

Warm-wet wraps are used to treat acute inflammation in your pet (usually 2-3 days

after the beginning of the condition).

3.2 Laser

Laser means Light Amplification by Stimulated

Emission of Radiation. Essentially, a physiotherapist

will use rays of light to penetrate the tissues. The

absorption of the rays is different for the various

tissues. And, the depth of the penetration of the rays

depends on the wavelength of the light rays. Laser

rays are the ones that have the deepest effect on the

tissues.

Laser use in veterinary medicine

Laser therapy can be of great use in the regeneration processes. When there are some long-

lasting lesions or injuries, laser treatment of low intensity can be used to speed up the process

of regeneration. Also, laser therapy can be used as acupuncture, in the way that instead of

needles, we can use laser rays. The method is completely harmless and in most patients the

symptoms are successfully eliminated. This method is used in treating inflammation of the

muscles, joints, tendons and many other conditions (And laser therapy acupuncture may be

a great alternative to traditional acupuncture if you have a pet with a fear/low tolerance of

needles.)

You are usually allowed to stay with your pet while the have this therapy, and many pets

seem to actively enjoy laser therapy, as if they can feel it doing them good.

3.3 Electrotherapy

Electrotherapy, the application of an electrical current through the skin, while common as a

means for therapy in humans, has really only developed for our pets in the last twenty or so

years.

Electrotherapy can be used for healing wounds, pain control or relief, and reduction of

inflammation. Some of the more advanced uses of electrotherapy involve the re-educating of

muscles and increased muscle strengthening. For example, if your dog has suffered an injury

to his hind limb, a physiotherapist may recommend electrotherapy to increase the strength.

By placing small electrical patches on strategic areas of your dog and then allowing an

electrical current to flow to these areas, you can cause the muscles to contract, which aids in

rehabilitating the area.

Additionally, your therapist might try using electrotherapy to increase blood circulation or help

with joint mobility.

There are some very specific forms of electrotherapy which your physio may discuss with

you. These may include galvanization therapy, ionotherapy, faradizing, and diadynamic

therapy. Be sure to ask your therapist about these specialized electrotherapy treatments.

A method of electrotherapy you may be able to perform at home on your pet is TENS. This

stands for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation and involves the stimulation of

nerves in the skin via an electrode held in place with a sticky patch. This can help the relief

of long-term back pain or arthritis. Your animal physio first needs to show you where to locate

the patches (and shave some fur!) but this is definitely an option to explore.

3.4 Cold therapy (Cryotherapy)

Cold therapy involves exposing your pet’s body or part of his body to extreme cold for a brief

period of time. The cold leads to vasoconstriction, or the reduction of blood flow, to the treated

area. So why would we want to do this? By doing this, it reduces cellular metabolism and it

has an anti-inflammatory effect. Additionally, this can reduce the occurrence of muscle

spasms in our pets.

Many therapists may recommend cryotherapy as a treatment in our pets for:

Arthritis, tendinitis

Trauma

Postoperative-pain, inflammation

Preventing inflammation after exercise

Of course, if your pet has a hypersensitivity to cold, open wounds, or circulatory problems,

this is not a recommended course of treatment. Also, be aware that you can have too much

of a good thing! Holding the cold compresses in place

for too long can damage the skin.

3.5 Therapeutic Ultrasound

While many people are aware of diagnostic ultrasound (like that used to see an unborn baby),

there is another type of ultrasound – therapeutic ultrasound. And these two ultrasounds are

not the same thing.

Therapeutic ultrasound involves the use of sound vibrations of a high frequency to promote

healing. So how does this work exactly? By applying a therapeutic ultrasound probe directly

against your pet’s skin with the use of ultrasound gel, waves of energy pass through the skin

to the area being treated.

Your therapist may try this to treat:

Joint contractures

Scar tissue

Arthritis

Tendonitis

Bursitis,

Skeletal muscle spasm, pain

Therapeutic ultrasound is painless but requires specialist equipment and so done by your

veterinary physiotherapist. It usually requires a course of treatment, visiting several times

over a period of weeks, to bring about long-term improvement.

NOTE: Ultrasonophoresis

Ultrasonophoresis is the method of delivering drugs through intact skin by means of

ultrasound.

3.6 Therapeutic exercises

What if there was some form of physical therapy you

could do that could bring you and your pet closer

together? Would you be up for it? Therapeutic exercise

is that therapy. It is easy and effective and requires you

spending time with your dog in hopes of helping him on

the road to recovery. That’s a win-win situation. [Some

home exercises are also covered in Module 5.3

Your physio may advise therapeutic exercise to aid in:

Coordination

Proprioception

Balance

Tone and muscle strength

Endurance

ROM- range of motion

As you can see, therapeutic exercise can help with a whole host of problems, with the aim of

strengthening and improving mobility. Additionally, there are many several forms of

therapeutic exercise which can be prescribed for your pet.

This exercise can be broken into 4 areas:

Passive-ROM: With ROM we can improve the joint structure and elasticity of soft tissue.

We can measure and improve the flexion, extension, adduction, abduction, and rotation

in the joints of your pet. This may involve the simple bending and extend of a joint. [See

Anatomy Appendix to understand the technical terms.]

Assisted: If the animal cannot stand up independently, you or the therapist can support

its standing. During this exercise, a harness or some other gear may be used. The

exercises are done with a short period of rest, several times a day.

Active- assisted: When the animal can stand or walk with the help of you or the

therapist these exercises can be given. These may involve the use of a carriage,

harness, physio ball or other suitable tools.

Active: When the animal is able to stand and walk on a leash without the help of the

therapist. For this kind of exercise, we can use stairs, treadmill, exercises like "dance",

"sit-stand". Also, we can use weights, obstacles, a physio ball, or "balance board.”

As always, a pet physiotherapist will recommend which exercise your pet is ready for and

instruct you how to properly do it with your animal.

3.7 Acupuncture

Acupuncture has been used in treating animals and people for almost

5000 years! It is an ancient Chinese technique for treating patients,

often to relieve pain and discomfort. So, what does this method of

treatment that has been around for so long involve?

Special, thin, sterile metal needles are pinned into strictly set places

on the body (acupuncture spots), with the purpose of preventing or

treating some disease. These acupuncture needles are of different

lengths and they are made of stainless steel. In practice, needles from

1.25-5cm are used for pets. Shorter needles are used for smaller dogs

and cats; medium length needles (3.5cm) are used for pinning the midline, the areas adjacent

to the spine, and the proximal parts of the shoulders and thighs. Long needles (3.75-5cm)

are used for pinning spots on the hips and popliteal area (hollow area behind the joints – i.e.

behind your knee) in large breeds.

The duration of the treatment can be from 5-10 minutes or 15-30 minutes, depending on the

reason for treatment. The treatment is repeated 2-3 times a week in acute conditions, or 1-2

times a week in chronic conditions. Usually, 8-10 treatments are done.

In addition, electrical current can be used on the needles and this treatment is called electric

acupuncture.

3.8 Massage

A massage is a form of mechanical stimulation of the tissue. It can be active and passive. It

affects the muscles, connective tissue and collagen. There are many benefits from a

massage, such as relaxation, increased blood and lymph flow, vasodilation, reducing oedema

(swelling), stimulation of the muscles in cases of atrophy and as a stimulus for the sensory

nerve endings.

Massage may be used for the following:

Chronic changes in the muscles of your pet which, in turn, impact his posture and

movement

Postoperative recovery

Degenerative diseases (osteoarthritis)

Warming up before activity

Relaxation after activities

Muscle soreness

Stress

Massage may not be advised if your pet suffers from:

Dermatological problems

Ulcerated skin injuries and septic processes

Or if your pet can be aggressive. You do not want to massage your pet if this antagonizes

him. For more details on massage see Module 5.1.

There are various massage techniques that may work for your pet.

These include:

3. Stroking 1. Effleurage

5. Rubbing (friction) 9. Percussion

7. Kneading (petrissage)

The duration of the massage should be adapted to the animal and the condition. It should

take approximately 5-30 minutes. It should be done in a quiet environment and the animals

need to be comfortable. Also, the therapist that performs the massage should take a good

and comfortable position as well. Everyone who is involved in the massage should be

comfortable and happy.

And keep in mind, we’ll talk more about massage in Module 5 – so stay tuned!