Ethical Implications of Equine Obesity
With the Vet Rehab Summit only days away, and the last few months focused intensely on identifying the various areas in which we face ethical challenges as Vetrehabbers, the time seems right to delve into an interesting ethical issue – obesity in horses. ...
Canine Cruciate Ruptures: to Cut or Not to Cut
In a fascinating interview on cranial cruciate disease, Narda Robinson from CuraCore Vet examined the pros and cons of surgery for this condition, and in particular, the highly invasive TPLO procedure. She discussed the financial benefits of TPLO surgery, the...
Death with Dignity
One of the hardest things we need to deal with as Vetrehabbers is the death of our patients — especially patients who have been a part of our lives for a long time. As we prepare for the Vet Rehab Summit 2024 where we will be diving into many of the ethical challenges...
Managing Chronic Pain: Our Ethical Responsibility
Shifting our perspective from healing to management When we are working with chronic pain patients, we need to shift our thinking from curative to management. It is normal for us to work with our patients with the goal of eliminating pain – pain is the enemy, right?...
Transcranial Photobiomodulation for Canine Cognitive Dysfunction
Canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD) can be likened to Alzheimer’s disease in humans. Senior dogs with CCD may experience confusion, anxiety, disorientation and other symptoms that can impair their quality of life. The pathophysiology of CCD involves a series of...
Equine Stay Apparatus: Active or Passive, and Why it Matters
For a long time, I have wanted to write about the stay apparatus, but it was not until recently that I finally found the inspiration to jump into this topic. I received an email, asking my thoughts on disproving the theory of the stay apparatus. The theory? I had not...
The Canine Elbow Anatomy
By Anna Lloyd and Kirsten Straszacker Anatomy forms the very foundation of everything we do as Vetrehabbers, and (un)fortunately, it’s an area we should be constantly reviewing and studying! This month, we dive into the canine elbow. We’ll discuss it’s classification,...
The Power of Collaboration
In the last weeks (months, years …) we have been faced with the challenge of establishing a team mindset in our industry, where vets and veterinary therapists work together as professionals in relationships of trust, open communication, and collaboration, to reach the...
Applying the 80/20 Rule when Running your Vet Rehab Practice
Written by Dr Meg Kelly Time is one of the vet rehab therapist’s most precious resources. Because we have such limited time, we must focus our efforts on the tasks that produce the best results. In my quest to improve productivity, I came across the 80/20 rule, which...
Forming Meaningful Referral Relationships with Veterinary Professionals
This blog is written by SynergyVets When vets require the services of a specialist for providing ongoing treatment or therapy to one of their patients, such as a veterinary physiotherapist, it is mutually beneficial for both parties if they already have a strong...
A Shift in Perspective From Mechanics to Tensegrity
In our latest equine webinar series, Dr Elizabeth Uhl and Dr Michelle Osborn deeply challenge our perceptions, perspectives and beliefs when it comes to how we evaluate our patients, develop treatment programmes, and understand pathology. I would like to share a few...
What you Need to Know to Connect the Missing Links of Hip Dysplasia
In a Small Animal Research Refresh, I decided to delve into a condition we see over and over again – hip dysplasia. The danger with a condition we’re all familiar with is that we become complacent; patients respond well to therapy, we have good results, and therefore...
Underwater Treadmill: Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
In a podcast interview with Francisco Maia from the K9PT Academy about minimising our practices, the topic of the underwater treadmill came up. For Francisco, better results can be achieved without the use of an underwater treadmill. I thought we could dive into this...
8 Ways to Prevent Dogs from Slipping on Floors
Dogs gain traction through their nails and their paw pads. Some of the strategies to prevent slipping involve increasing traction through either the nails, paw pads, or both.
Putting a Number on Pain: Quantifying and Recognising Pain in Equine Rehabilitation
With research allowing us to identify specific pain behaviours, we can now use composite pain scales in equines to quantify and monitor pain in rehab patients.
Cupping Therapy in Veterinary Rehabilitation
Cupping therapy, or decompression therapy, has been around for a very long time. It has been used for generations in humans to treat a vast array of diseases and conditions, and in the past few years has been used in the veterinary and veterinary rehabilitation...
Ten Steps to the Perfect Rehab Evaluation
When we have a repeatable and reliable system to evaluate and treat our patients, we know that we can consistently perform the best evaluations without missing any important information. It also allows us to approach more complicated or challenging cases with...
When Your Thoughts Become Gremlins
If we feed and nurture negative thoughts, they multiply in ways that can turn our lives upside down, causing negativity, depression, to rule our lives.
The Role of the Tongue and Hyoid in Equine Movement
Have you found during your work that dysfunction or asymmetry in the jaw is reflected in the shoulder and again in the pelvis? That when the sacroiliac is out, so is the jaw? Today, we pick apart one anatomical aspect of this connection and reflect on how the tongue...
Spay, Neuter, Intact – Implications and Alternatives in Dogs
When it comes to the sexual or reproductive status of dogs, I have always been a firm believer in spaying and neutering. In a country where dogs are frequently bred irresponsibly, where there are more dogs than people to take care of them, and where ‘accidents’ happen...