Our goal at Kentlands Veterinary Hospital is to provide our patients with
access to the same safe, effective, and noninvasive physical therapy
modalities that are widely used in human medicine to ease pain, speed
recovery, and maximize performance.
We tailor the treatment to the needs of the individual patient, and provide
guidance and recommendations for home care. We also provide weight management and conditioning programs.
Why Choose Physical Rehabilitation for Your Pet?
Physical rehabilitation plays an important role in veterinary patients
recovering from bone, joint, and muscular injuries, neurologic
disorders, and surgery. Our goal is to improve mobility, manage pain,
improve strength, and enhance the quality of life of companion animals.
Candidates for Rehabilitation:
• Post-operative orthopedics
• Tendon and ligament injuries
• Spinal cord injuries
• Gait abnormalities
• Post fractures
• Herniated discs
• Degenerative neurological problems
• Arthritis
• Obesity and poor conditioning
• Muscular degeneration
• Inflammation and swelling
Evaluation
It is critical for most patients to begin rehabilitation as soon as
possible after surgery or injury. Our staff will meet with you and your
pet to thoroughly evaluate your pet’s current condition and develop a
comprehensive, personalized, treatment plan.
REHABILITATION TREATMENT OPTIONS & SERVICES AVAILABLE
Passive Range of Motion Therapy and Strengthening Exercises
Exercises are an important part of the rehabilitation services we
provide. An exercise may be as simple as doing passive-range-of-motion
(PROM) to improve or maintain a joint's flexibility, to ambulation
exercises to retrain an animal to walk. Exercises are often devised
specifically for each individual patient, so it is difficult to explain
all the exercises we may prescribe for a patient. Here are some general
types of exercise that we perform:
- Passive range of motion (PROM) exercises
increase nutrition availability at the joint cartilage, stimulate new
cartilage production, and is used to increase range of motion at the
joint.
- Stretching exercises increase circulation and muscle flexibility.
- Proprioceptive exercises are exercises used to help the animal know where their feet are in space.
- Strengthening exercises (stairs, land treadmill, sit/stands, etc.) are used to strengthen individual muscles or muscle groups.
- Weight shifting exercises are exercises used to
help the animal shift their weight to the affected limb or side to make
the animal walk more balanced.
- Ambulation exercises are exercises used to reeducate a paretic animal (severe loss of function of their limbs) how to walk
Treadmill Therapy
- Increases muscle strength
- Increases endurance and balance
- Improves cardiovascular health
The treadmill is used to increase strength, balance and coordination.
This form of therapy, has advantages such as the stimulation of bone
growth and strengthening as well as the ability to vary the rate of
incline and decline. This allows for concentration of effort on
specific muscle groups. Treadmill therapy can be more beneficial at
certain stages of post-joint surgery rehabilitation (ie cruciates,
hips, elbows).
Ultrasound Therapy
- Produces local heating of deeper tissues
- Improves range of motion
Therapeutic ultrasound is the use of sound waves which are passed
through tissue creating certain physiological effects. Though the
handheld probe looks similar to a diagnostic ultrasound probe (ie the
ones doctors use to see a fetus) this unit operates at a different
frequency and does not receive information back like the diagnostic
ultrasound. Therapeutic ultrasound used together with medication is
termed phonophoresis. Phonophoresis delivers the medication through the
skin, which allows the delivery at the local level, reducing side
affects related to oral or injectable delivery. The uses of therapeutic
ultrasound include:
- Increasing contractility of muscle fibers (to increase range of motion)
- Decreasing pain and muscle spasm
- Accelerating wound healing
Electrical Stimulation Therapy
- Reduces swelling and edema
Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is the application of a low
level electrical current which results in a muscle contraction. This is
achieved by placing electrodes at the beginning and end of the muscle.
These muscle contractions can be used to mimic strength training for
animals that are non-weight bearing or have limited use of a muscle or
muscle group. NMES is used to prevent atrophy post surgery or injury,
or to increase strength for muscles that have been chronically
underutilized. NMES is commonly used in paretic dogs or dogs post
surgically before they are weight bearing and during reeducation of
ambulation.
Massage Therapy and Cryotherapy
- Increases muscle mobility
These modalities have many benefits. Cryotherapy decreases nerve
conduction velocity (which decreases pain perception) and decreases the
rate of cytokine release (which decreases inflammation). In addition,
it causes vasoconstriction (decreased blood flow) followed by a rebound
vasodilation (increased blood flow). When used immediately after
surgery or an injury, cryotherapy decreases bleeding at the surface and
deep in the tissue.
Heat Therapy
- Improves muscle flexibility
- Increases the collagen's (healing tissue) ability to stretch
- Increases enzyme activity (which speeds healing)
- Increases muscle contractility and stretching capability
Like cryotherapy, heat therapy overall is used to decrease pain and
inflammation and speed healing. The difference is that cryotherapy is
used by itself during phase 1 inflammation, and heat therapy is
typically used along with cryotherapy during phase 2 inflammation. Heat
therapy should be used no earlier than 72 hours post-surgery or injury.
Laser Light Therapy
Laser Light Therapy is the most researched and published modality in
physical rehabilitation and has demonstrated a multitude of clinical
benefits that include relieving pain from minor muscular and joint
aches, pain and stiffness associated with arthritis, relaxing muscle
spasms and increasing local blood circulation.
Combination Therapy
