Navigating the World of Joint Supplements: What Vetrehabbers Need to Know
When it comes to arthritis, a debilitating and degenerative condition, we always want to take an early and multi-modal approach to ensure the longest and best possible quality of life for our patients. Supplements are unregulated, uncontrolled and well-marketed to...
Identifying Low Grade Pain and Lameness in Horses
What is normal for your horse? Is your horse grumpy, unwilling? Does he throw his head, pull back his ears, get tense? Does he kick or bite at you when you tighten the girth? And are you constantly struggling to get into competition, to perform consistently or just to...
What Do We Know About Achilles Tendinopathy?
Achilles tendinopathies can be challenging and frustrating to treat, requiring a team approach with multiple different tools incorporated into the treatment and rehabilitation for a successful outcome. There are multiple incredible resources within the Onlinepethealth...
Decompressive Surgery for Canine IVDD: Is it the Best Option?
A recent webinar with Dr Paul Freeman on the subject of IVDD opened up multiple questions on the current recommended treatment protocols for these patients. Primarily, Dr Paul Freeman questions whether the early surgical intervention actually does result in improved...
How Vetrehabbers Can Impact Puppies’ Lives for the Better
When we cross paths with very young dogs, we have a tremendous opportunity to make a positive difference in their physical well-being and indeed the course of their whole lives. Conditions like hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia and medial patella luxation all start...
Empowering Blind Dogs: Rehabilitation for Improved Mobility and Function
Dogs with visual impairment often have concurrent conditions that will benefit from physical therapy or rehabilitation. These can include injuries, as well as arthritis. With a few considerations, we can support dogs with visual impairments to participate in...
Beyond Research: How to Be Evidence-Based in Vet Rehab
We’re all familiar with the phrase ‘evidence-based practice’. That is what we are supposed to be doing – practising our veterinary rehab work in ways that are based on evidence of what works and what does not. But ours is a field that is still new and growing, and the...
More Than Protocols and Improvisation in Veterinary Rehabilitation
You may have heard the term, ‘Are you a cook or a chef?’ Are you following recipes – or a set of protocols – or you are creating menus and recipes – in our case, are we devising our own protocols and treatment plans? What we’re really trying to say when we ask this...
Why Your Foal Should See a Vetrehabber in the First Weeks of Life
To many of us, a dream comes true when we finally breed our own foal. The journey from finding a mare or stallion all the way through to the final birth, revealing the perfect, cutest little creature you have ever laid eyes on can be magical, exciting, and fraught...
Quality of Life and Adaptation in Dogs with Phantom Limb Pain
We know that phantom limb pain occurs in as many as 80% of people who have had amputations, but does it also affect dogs to the same degree? Revisiting one of the webinars in our Small Animal Members portal, Rehabilitation of the Canine Amputee by Marinette Teeling,...
Postural Changes in Dogs and Cats From an Anatomical Perspective
Posture is simply the orientation of the body in space in response to both internal and external stimuli. Posture can optimise the function and performance of the musculoskeletal system, and performs a protective function either of the whole organism or of individual...
Unraveling Serotonin Syndrome: What You Need to Know
An Onlinepethealth webinar with Dr Kenneth Joubert got me thinking about Serotonin Syndrome. This is not something I am terribly familiar with, so I set out to find out why I know so little, and what I need to know! It seems that Serotonin Syndrome can occur as a...
Embracing Fascia With a Change in Perspective
As we prepare for and get excited about the upcoming Vet Rehab Summit, where we will be diving into the canine and equine Myofascial chains, it is worth taking a moment to remind ourselves what we already know about the fascia. In a four-part webinar series with...
Introducing FINFUN: A Game-Changing Neurological Evaluation Tool for Canine Rehabilitation
In 2018, a group of clinicians and researchers published the FINFUN – the Finnish Neurological Function Testing Battery for Dogs. This testing battery allows us to be more objective in our neurological evaluations, providing an improved opportunity for communication...
Three Simple Ways You Can Reduce Fear in Your Vet Rehab Patients
According to Temple Grandin, Professor of Animal Science, consultant to the livestock industry and advocate for the humane treatment of animals, the absolute worst thing we can do to an animal is to cause it to feel fear. If you had to choose between fear and pain,...
Unpacking the Research on Veterinary Shock Wave Therapy
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy continues to be a subject of regular conversation, with new research articles published annually that are specific to the Veterinary Industry. In 2022, two systematic reviews were published – one specific to the Equine industry, and...
8 Ways Rehab can Impact Every Vet Practice For The Good of Their Patients
Currently, it is common for Vet Rehab Therapists to have their own practices and work from the referrals of multiple veterinarians for a range of different conditions. Some veterinary practices, however, have embraced rehabilitation, adding a rehab facility and...
3 Hard Lessons That Improved My Practice Instantly
We all want a thriving vet rehab practice and the majority of us throw our heart and souls into our work. I used to think that working really hard and long hours was a prerequisite for a successful practice. “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it,” I told myself...
How Different Dog Breeds Respond to Hydrotherapy
~ "Thanks to Angela Griffiths from Greyfriars for her valuable input and photographs for this blog" All dogs can swim? I certainly believed that all dogs could swim, until the day I saw a young dog in the water, thrashing about with the forelimbs, head held as high as...
What do we Really Know About Iliopsoas Strain?
In recent years, the iliopsoas muscle complex has come under scrutiny as the veterinary community has begun to move away from the all-too-common ‘soft tissue injury’ diagnosis and focus on the specific identification and treatment of the anatomical origins of...