Laying the Foundation: What Is Movement Therapy in Veterinary Rehabilitation?

In the next few weeks as we lead up to the Vet Rehab Summit, we will be exploring Movement Therapy as a science and a profession.

In this first article, let’s define some of the terminology we will be using in the coming weeks, and the foundational concepts we want to think about before we move forward with the theories behind Movement Therapy.

 

Motor Development: From Birth to Maturity

Motor development refers to the development of and changes to the available motor patterns and skills across the lifespan of a species. We generally refer to the period from birth to adulthood in periods, as certain functions become available.

In canines, these motor development stages are relatively well defined:

• Neonatal period (0–2 weeks): Reflexive movement only
• Transitional period (2–4 weeks): Basic postural control and walking attempts
• Socialization period (3–12 weeks): Rapid refinement of motor skills, play, and coordination
• Juvenile period (3–6 months): Strength, endurance, and controlled movement improve

In equines, the motor development stages occur more quickly, with horses standing and running within hours following birth instead of weeks (Pirinen et al., 2024).

While these developmental phases are not driven by the environment, they are influenced by it. If the right environmental factors are not available to facilitate the development of a specific skill during the critical period, that skill may always remain undeveloped or underdeveloped. 

For example, foals and puppies that are confined to smaller areas during the critical periods when walking, running, postural control, balance and play develop will have limited control of those movement patterns. This may result in poor coordination, weakness, altered gait patterns,  increased levels of laterality, and long term compensations (Kurvers et a., 2006; Lucidi et al., 2023; Foal Development and Exercise).

 

Motor Control: The Nervous System in Action

Motor control refers to the ability of the central and peripheral nervous system to organize the movement created by the musculoskeletal system. It involves integrating sensory feedback, selecting motor commands, adapting to the environment and executing movements through coordinated muscle function.

As Vetrehabbers, we pay special attention to motor control during functional movement evaluations, the evaluation of performance, as well as during skill acquisition. We want to differentiate motor control between skills that are well established and known, and skills that are new and being learnt. New skills will have a lower and less consistent degree of motor control, while established skills should show a consistent, repeatable degree of motor control.

 

Motor Learning: Acquiring, Modifying, and Relearning Skills

Motor learning refers to the process of acquiring, modifying or relearning existing motor skills.

In Veterinary Rehabilitation, we want to think about

• When teaching a new skill, how can we break that skill down into it’s simplest form and then progress it, ensuring optimal neuromotor control and biomechanics for that skill.
• Reteaching skills following an injury can include retraining correct biomechanics and overcoming the fear of pain during the skill performance. Neuromotor control and functional activities can be a strong focus in older patients, or patients that have suffered a neurological injury.
• Modifying existing movement patterns will relate to patients that have adopted compensation patterns, or athletes that have progressed in their sport without a strong skill foundation, resulting in overload patterns that predispose them to injury.

To support motor learning, we can classify motor skills according to their difficulty or the degree of complexity. This allows us to break a complex action down into their simplest form and then progressively increase the difficulty as the patient gains the strength and skill to do so.

 

Motor Skills

A motor skill is defined as an activity that has a specific goal or purpose, performed voluntarily and learned or relearned through practice.

According to motor learning frameworks, three components help us understand a motor skill and how we can teach it through motor learning:

 

1.      Actions

An action is the voluntary movement of a body segment to achieve a specific goal. It always has a purpose or outcome that directs the movement. When we link this back to motor learning, the goal or purpose of the action is paramount. Before learning the skill, we need to understand the goal.

Clinical Application: Putting the goal of the action at the forefront of motor learning can be tricky in animal patients as we cannot communicate the desired outcome of a motor skill prior to the desired movement. Therefore what we want to think about, is to initially strongly focus on rewarding a specific outcome, regardless of the motor pattern used to achieve it. For example, when teaching a dog to sit, we may initially lure the dog into position and then reward. Once they understand the desired goal is a sitting position, we can start to improve the motor control, coordination and biomechanics of action that results in the desired outcome, or the movement.

 

2.      Movements

Movement refers to the specific coordinated pattern of movement required to achieve the action. Movement can be greatly individualized based on the skill level, functional capacity, conformation, pathology or dysfunction of the patient. When we link this back to motor learning, we want to identify and teach the most efficient and effective movement pattern available for the action.

Clinical Application: We need to identify the specific movement strategy a patient adopts, and then refine it to the most efficient movement pattern available to them. For example, in a dog with hindquarter weakness they may pull themselves into a standing position instead of pushing from behind when transitioning from sit to stand.

 

3.      Neuromotor Processes

This refers to the internal processes that initiate and regulate movement. The structures involved include the central and peripheral nervous system. We want to consider the role of proprioceptive feedback, reflex postural control, motor planning mechanisms, feedback and feedforward loops. When we link this back to motor learning, we want to consider ways that we can more actively engage the central nervous system in the planning and execution of movements.

Clinical Applications: When it comes to our canine and equine patients, we can target neuromotor processes by increasing motivation and autonomy, adding task variation, ensuring the task is appropriate, and by providing meaningful feedback to the patient.

 

Factors That Influence Motor Skill Performance

There are multiple factors that can influence the performance of a motor skill, and that can make learning a skill easier or more difficult. These include

• The individual: age, health, pain, strength, sensory capacity, temperament
• The environment: surface, distractions, space, handler involvement
• The skill itself: complexity, speed, movement type, required coordination

In practice, understanding these factors helps us set our patients up for success by selecting the right skill, adjusting the environment, and tailoring the challenge level.

 

What’s Next?

The next blog in this series will focus on the challenges that affect motor learning. We will dive into coordination, degrees of freedom, and systems of control. This is where things really start to get interesting!

 

Join the Conversation at the Vet Rehab Summit

If you’re eager to dive deeper into movement therapy, don’t miss this year’s Vet Rehab Summit on Saturday, 8 November 2025. With the theme Dynamic by Design, the summit is built around the principles of motor learning, handler influence, and functional movement in canine and equine rehab.

🎓 Live attendance is free, and CPD certificates and replays are available through ticket upgrades.

👉 Click here to register now and join a global community passionate about movement-based healing.

 

 

This article was partly written with ChatGPT during a study session. I take full responsibility for the accuracy of the information in this article – everything has been written, rewritten, edited or checked by myself.