At Physiotherapy with Emma, Emma Craig, a registered veterinary nurse, offers a range of services for your dogs, including canine physiotherapy, canine hydrotherapy and conditioning & fitness sessions. Emma will help your dogs heal from injuries and other painful conditions. Her therapies can also prevent painful conditions in active dogs. Call her now.
I wrote a long update on Edel's recovery that somehow got lost in tumblr's meander! Grrrrrrr starting over...
Edel has started doggie physiotherapy. We went yesterday for the second time and did electrical muscle stimulation (see photo) and several "range of motion" exercises - moving up/down/sideways Edel's little legs. We are now schedule to go twice a week. Next Friday will be our first hydrotherapy session! Can't wait. This should be pretty fun to watch. Edel loves water and she would definitely benefit from a little bath!
"Electrical stimulation is used for pain management and increasing muscle tone by applying electrodes to the skin, which deliver low voltage intermittent stimulation to the surface nerves of the skin. Transmission of pain signals are blocked by the release of endorphins to allow healing."
Updates on Edel's status:
She has lost some muscle mass in her hind limbs (thank god, she had a lot to start with!). She still needs support for bathroom breaks but, a few days ago, she has started to move a little bit her hind limbs while on the sling. She definitely stands-up more often, but has yet made a few steps by herself. Her front legs muscles and shoulders are pretty tense (from dragging/supporting all her weight) and needs massages, stretching, and heat from magic bag. We are continuing everyday to apply cold packs on her fracture to decrease inflammation and she now doesn't mind if we massage or pet her back, which is good!
Edel started doggie physiotherapy. Yesterday was our second time and we did electrical simulation (see picture) and several "range of motion" exercices (i.e., stretch/move her legs in all possible directions). As of now, we're schedule to go twice a week. Next time is Friday and will be doing some hydrotherapy! Looking forward to that, should be fun, and Edel definitely needs a little bath!
Kim - our rehab tech - thinks piglet is doing great. Edel don't mind too much all the beeping gadgets that we're gluing on her rear hind and moving along her spine. In fact, she gets pretty relax after a few seconds of acupressure.
"Electrical stimulation is used for pain management and increasing muscle tone by applying electrodes to the skin, which deliver low voltage intermittent stimulation to the surface nerves of the skin. Transmission of pain signals are blocked by the release of endorphins to allow healing."
News on Edel's status:
She has lost some muscle mass in her hind limbs (but thank god, she had a lot to start with!). She definitely stands up more easily and can support her weight longer, but has yet made a few steps by herself. However, she has started, a few days ago, to move a little her back legs when she's on the sling for bathroom breaks.
I haven't been able to sleep much lately. For some reason, Edel has been really anxious in the middle of the night, every nights! Post-stress from her extended stay at the vet school in PEI? Stress from not exercising regularly? Who knows! I think part of it has to do with the fact that she has not been sleeping in the bed under the blanket since the accident. So I finally decided yesterday to remove my bed frame and sleep only on my mattress, such that she can be sleeping next to me. Success (almost). We all had more sleeping time :)