Physical Therapy for a dog? What???

Yes, it’s a real thing! When I tell people what I do, I often get shocked responses. My explanation is frequently followed by, “Wow, that’s so cool!” It’s true. I do have the coolest job, but many people are unaware that PT for dogs is actually a much needed service. Dogs as well as many other companion animals such as cats, horses, or even guinea pigs greatly benefit from physical therapy. I will mostly discuss dogs in this blog because that is the population I see most often, but keep in mind, “canine” rehab is not limited to just dogs, despite the name.

Did you know that our canine friends suffer many of the same orthopedic and neurologic diseases as we do? Some of the most common things we see are arthritis, ruptured cranial cruciate ligaments (equivalent to the ACL in humans), meniscal tears in the knee, and disc herniations in the back. Canine rehab is also very similar to human rehab in the treatment goals. First, we try to bring down any pain and swelling and improve comfort, while maintaining range of motion, and then gradually work on strengthening the area and surrounding musculature to support the injured area, eventually returning to normal function. If normal function isn’t attainable, then we teach the tools needed to adapt accordingly for the highest level of function possible. The fun comes in when trying to get a dog to achieve these goals since we can’t tell them to do three sets of ten repetitions each of leg lifts, squats, and lunges. Fortunately most dogs are food motivated and if they aren’t, they like to work their brain, please their human, or have a favorite toy they will do anything for. These motivations help us to guide them into the correct position for an exercise and eventually they learn the exercise and often will do it before even asked. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought, “If only I could have dangled a piece of chocolate or a bag chips in front of my human patients to motivate them.” Ha Ha.

Over the next month or so in this blog, I am going to go through some of the most common diagnoses we treat and explain a little bit about each one so please stay tuned!