Canine Rehabilitation is the veterinary version of human Physical Therapy.
To have the best quality of life, all dogs need to have good mobility. Rehab looks at a dog’s current mobility challenges and repairs the structural and functional muscle and tendon issues.
This usually means starting with pain management modalities such as laser, TENS, acupuncture, hydrotherapy, PEMF, range of motion work, heat or ice, gentle stretching, manual therapy like massage and joint mobilizations.
Later we add more stretching and exercise therapy to strengthen the injured areas and address compensatory issues. Rehab is goal oriented and problem based so we don’t need a diagnosis to start helping pets, (but it can help.)
Rehab patients come to us with non-surgical ACL tears, spinal injuries and IVDD, hip, back, knee, neck or elbow pain, any lameness, neurologic issues and chronic weakness, and for post-op recovery from orthopedic surgery, among other things. We also help pets that are elderly, chronically ill, or weak maintain their mobility.
Dr. Turner practices integrative veterinary medicine for dogs and cats at Heal in Stateline, Nevada. She can be reached at 530-580-6062 or [email protected]
