Physiotherapy uses physical methods to treat or manage musculoskeletal disease, injury or imbalance.
A physiotherapist will make an initial assessment of your pet, including analysing his or her clinical history, observing how he or she moves using palpation (hands-on techniques) to assess muscle tone, mass and symmetry. They can combine these bits of information to build up a picture of why your pet moves the way they do why their posture is as it is and whether there are any areas of discomfort. This enables the development of a treatment plan which will aim to improve mobility and reduce discomfort.
Physiotherapists employ treatments which fall into one of the three main categories:
- Manual techniques such as massage, myofascial release, passive range of motion and stretching.
- Electrotherapies such as laser, TENS, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, ultrasound and H-Wave.
- Exercise therapy (including hydrotherapy where appropriate), to re-educate posture and gait, build muscle and mobilise joints.
- Following the initial assessment and treatment, a large part of physiotherapy involves the prescription of a remedial exercise programme. This is where you can make the biggest impact to your pet’s condition and is a really important part of both short-term and longer-term management.
Our physiotherapist Steph Morgan achieved her postgraduate diploma (PgD) in veterinary physiotherapy from Harper Adams University in 2014, and was awarded her masters (MSc) following completion of her research project in 2017.
She is based mainly in our Watton site, however, she is also happy to treat patients in any one of our other three branches if access to Watton proves difficult for the client.
Treatment sessions last for around 60 minutes and cost £35 per session (£31.50 for patients who are members of The Healthy Pet Club). The majority of pets require around three concurrent sessions initially, and then the occasional maintenance treatment throughout the year.
If you are interested in arranging a physiotherapy assessment and treatment session for your pet please speak to your vet who will arrange referral to Steph.
Many insurance policies recognise the benefits of physiotherapy treatment and therefore often will cover this treatment as part of an ongoing claim, however, it is always advisable that you check your own policy cover prior to any treatment.
