Windy and her mum have been friends of the practice for a year and regulars in the rehabilitation department. We are exceptionally proud of Windy and her recent successes in the agility ring. She has tried a combination of treatments from physiotherapy, the under water treadmill, hydrotherapy and acupuncture.
Windy’s mum is always enthusiastic and passionate about her dogs fitness and well being. She initially started with the rehabilitation team to ensure Windy was performing at best and to highlight any injuries before they deteriorated. A few months ago this is exactly what happened when Windy was placing her right hind shorter on the treadmill than her left. This suggested there was some pain or discomfort when she was walking and after a closer examination we noted she was painful in her spine. Her mum took on board all our advice and started rehabilitation at home with regular visits to Mochdre Vets to see how we could help her. After 1-2 months she was much improved and back to swimming in the hydrotherapy pool. A combination of treatment and a very committed mum put Windy back on the right path and breezing over those jumps into first place.
Following this Windy still attends rehabilitation sessions to ensure she is in peak performance at all times.
Factors we focused on were:
Massage
to help ease any spinal tension building up and support her shoulders as they were being affected by compensatory changes.
Gait
Not only did we look at how she was walking on the under water treadmill but Windy is also fortunate enough to have her own land based treadmill at home. We made a program to work on walking much slower than she wanted to encourage even weight distribution and active flexion of each joint.
Acupuncture
She attended sessions with Sarah to ease pain and ensure she was managing any discomfort.
Physiotherapy
Providing advice on warm up and cool down exercise before and after entering the agility ring.
Laser
To manage any sudden bouts of inflammation within the cells
If you have a competitive athletic dog and need some advice on conditioning and regular muscular-skeletal health checks then you can book in by ringing 01492 546112.