brooke's blog

Bella had her 2nd session in the underwater treadmill this week to help manage her osteoarthritis in her hips and back.

She was so much more comfortable and you can really see the improvement in her stride.  

Belle was referred to me for Physiotherapy at North Coast Veterinary specialists. She has arthritis in her hips and back.
She tolerates Physiotherapy and acupuncture brilliantly as you have seen before.

I felt brave last week at her Physiotherapy session.  Belle walks well on a lead and apparently loves the water
This is her first session in the underwater treadmill and managed very well!
I am using this to help strengthen her hindlimb muscles and reduce load for her arthritis joints.

Hopefully we can work on her expression and she will grow to 'enjoy' this!

In my you tube searching for my next presentation on gait and conformation I came across a video of a very game physio putting a cat in an underwater treadmill - see for yourself.....

last time I tried that i could have done with welding gloves. what a good puss! This cat has polyarthritis and they said didn't like it at first (I can imagine) but at least isn't scratching at the walls....

I was walking along the beach this afternoon with the dogs and followed a lovely chocolate Lab.  

These were his imprints:

The joy of being a physio is that I can't switch off from watching and observing. Whether it be how humans stand in a cue, the shape of their buttocks (not for a weird reason but it tells me what their back is like... of course!) and all our 4 legged friends moving

Movement tells us so much.  Animals are very body aware and have 4 feet to distribute their weight.

This lovely labrador was multi-limb lame and you can tell by his prints that he is not spaced evenly.

So when you are next on the beach with your friend (human or animal) - have a look back at your footprints and see what that tells you!

I will be running a course with Helen (Animal Physio from Sydney) in Melbourne next Feb regarding canine conformation and gait - got me thinking today on my stroll.

Happy beaching!!

Cheers

Samui came back to visit yesterday.  I treated Samui 4 years ago when she was an 8 yo Border collie.  After being hit by a car, she suffered severe hip/pelvis fractures.  With extensive surgery and such incredible devotion from her owners, we managed to get  Samui back to the property running on 4 legs.  As she had such severe injuries she ended up losing range in her left back leg and it has stayed as a 'peg' leg so to speak.  

4 years down the track and as a bright 12 yo working dog, she now needs some tune ups to help reduced the secondary arthritis she has been developing.

She remembered the underwater treadmill and took to it like a duck to water.  Samui has been through so much over the last few years and still enjoys time with the father of her child Julius (also pictured).  Julius has had radiotherapy 2 years ago for a brain tumour and though a little 'special' is still bright and happy and enjoyed some therapy for his Christmas oil and grease change.  

Samui impacted on me greatly when I treated her 4 years ago and she was my first dog on my wall of fame at NCVS.  It is great to see her high spirit again and I look forward to keeping her moving next year.

Thanks again for all the incredible hard work, love and dedication you put into your dogs!

Gucci is one of my very special long term clients.  She recently celebrated her 8th birthday with her incredibly dedicated owner.  Gucci was rescued as a puppy and suffers from arthritis in her spine and hips.  She works hard in her underwater treadmill each week and knows when her 5 mins is up for her next treat.  I love my visits from Gucci and know the difference now from the Rottweiler growl and speak. Such a special animal I hope she has many more birthday cakes to enjoy!

So after an action packed weekend at the APA conference I finished my presentations this year with one for the Vets on the sunshine coast.

This time I presented on Physiotherapy management of the Geriatric Patient.  I hope they found this talk informative including information on the latest research in human management of arthritis.  Especially managing hip/stifle arthritis, I can easily apply the research to what I see in clinical practice for my canine patients. Interestingly enough 90% of cats also suffer from Arthritis - an area that can perhaps be managed better to improve quality of life of all our 4 legged friends

My greatest challenge in managing arthritic animals is in the increasing numbers of obese dogs.  Apparently we now have 40% obesity rates in australia of dogs!! This has been shown to greatly reduce the median life span and increase the progression of arthritis.

Age is just a number. There is so much we can offer our elderly best friends to make them more comfortable and improve their stability and strength to support their joints.

If you would like to see how you can help your friend each day feel free to contact me. I love treating this age group. With such keen owners it is a very rewarding part of my work.

Cheers