Daisy came to us at the practice looking for help with forelimb stiffness. Unfortunately after breaking her toe she was in a cast for two weeks and as a result stiffened up.
Before her injury she was doing a lot of agility work and her owner wanted to make sure she had the best chance at returning to normal.
Once the cast was removed we went straight to work on correcting any secondary issues that had developed and forelimb stiffness. We started with some treadmill work to try and help build up her shoulder muscles however found she was still stiff and decided to mix up her session. We combined the treadmill with some physiotherapy session to really focus on loosening up her shoulder. As a result of her injury she had started to show some signs of back pain, a common issue when a dog becomes lame. A great technique to help with this is massage – something you can help do at home when your dogs relaxed.
Alternating weeks between physiotherapy and the treadmill we’re now at a stage where Daisy is back to her agility classes! Fortunately for Daisy, her mum has a lot of equipment to ensure the treatment doesn’t stop after the session but carries on through the week. Together we’ve worked on a number of different exercises to do at home using poles, cones and the wobble board.
Our first point of call was massage – this is a great form of treatment that helped with stiffness in her shoulders and back. We’ve managed to reduce her back pain by 2/3rds and are just tackling the last little niggles. After her massage we would stretch her out and each week she would gain more flexibility.
We then focused on using some of our equipment. Daisy is very food orientated, which worked to our favor considerably. Starting with the wobble board we worked on her core strength and stability. We then worked on doing some dog style push-ups to build her muscle and then focused on encouraging her to pick her legs up properly with the poles. Sometimes she focused on the treats more than the exercise but hey… who can blame her when a gravy bone is involved.
Here are some pictures of her performing some of her exercises.
With the treadmill we had the water at a level that supported her shoulder muscles. Water has many therapeutic benefits, one in particular being the benefit of hydro static pressure on the body. By having the water over the injury site the waters natural pressure can help with muscle function and circulation. In addition the warm water helps ease all her tense muscles and as the session progressed you could see how she was able to stretch her forelimbs further and further.
We’re now at a great point where she’s loosened up enough and is walking so much better that we’ve moved onto the pool! This will hopefully give her entire body a full workout now that she’s evened up her muscle tone. We’re just working on building her confidence and then hopefully she’ll be swimming perfectly.
Her mum is really pleased with her progress and is noticing a big difference at home. We look forward to seeing her mum as she has been a massive supporter to the practice, Weekly visits to the vets are no longer a dread for Daisy … especially when we get the treats out.