How do you use a land treadmill when working with patients?
Most of us have seen or used a land treadmill. The land treadmill is used to improve gait characteristics and to promote weight bearing following surgery. The treadmill challenges balance, sense of leg position and coordination for the patient, thereby helping to normalize hip and knee range of motion.

The treadmill moves beneath the patient, extending the hindlimbs farther than a painful patient would given a normal walking environment. If the patient has sustained an injury to either the hip or the knee, or has had surgery to either joint the land treadmill can be especially useful. In order to avoid pain, animals, as with people, will adjust their gait characteristics to compensate;

 

Prompting the patients use the joints and limbs in question help normalize gait and return the animal to full function.

What is an Underwater Treadmill, how does it work?

An underwater treadmill is a self contained unit allowing for buoyancy and resistance training while walking on a treadmill submerged in 80 – 84 degree water. The unit itself is comprised of a treadmill section, water storage tank and a filtration unit. 

The dog (or cat, if they are comfortable in water) walks into the dry treadmill unit with the therapist, the door is closed behind them and water enters the chamber to the desired depth and buoyancy.  Depending on the size of the patient this can take from thirty seconds to two minutes.  The treadmill is then turned on and your dog or permissive cat walks for a prescribed time and speed, both of which are based the patient's rehabilitation needs.

Following the aquatic therapy session, the water is drained, the dog (or cat) and the therapist leave the treadmill and the patient is towel or blow dried.

What are the unique benefits of aquatic therapy and the underwater treadmill?

Combining the properties of water and excersise in a controlled environment allow for a number of wide ranging benefits.

Benefits of the underwater treadmill include the following:

• Facilitates earlier return to function
• Unloads painful or arthritic weight-bearing joints
• Reduces joint compression
• Decreases swelling in submerged body parts with hydrostatic pressure
• Builds muscle mass
• Provides a safe, controlled environment to exercise
• Re-educates nerves and muscles
• Improves balance and proprioception

Bouyancy: Buoyancy decreases body weight and assists with balance while maintaining the drag of the water on the limbs, this in turn assists in muscle building. The water level can be raised or lowered to meet the needs of the patient.  As the weight bearing ability of the patient improves, the water is lowered, thereby reducing buoyancy.

Hydrostatic pressure: A patient with circulatory problems or edema in the limbs may benefit from being treated in water.  The water pressure encourages the flow of edema back toward the body and the lymphatic and circulatory systems

Cohesion: Water molecules adhere to the skin or fur increasing the resistance to movement in the water.  This will increase the drag of the limbs through the water while walking and helps to build muscle mass more rapidly than walking on land.

Turbulence: Moving through water causes turbulence which creates more resistance to movement and challenges the patient's balance.  Heart rate and CO2 consumption are greater when exercising in the water which helps to build the patient's capacity for exercise.

What are cavalettis rails and what do they do for my dog or cat?
Cavalettis rails are a series of obstacles set at certain distances apart and at certain heights, both of which are adjusted to match the patient'scapabilities. Cavalettis rails are used to challenge a patient's balance, improve functional range of motion, improve weight shifting and normalize gait.

What does the balance board do for my dog or cat?
A balance board is a flat surface with good traction on which your dog or cat will stand while the board tips. This challenges your pet's balance and activates the muscles of the body to maintain a standing position while the surface they are standing on is moving. To get an understanding of how it works, imagine standing on a moving boat or train without holding on to anything.

How do you use physioballs when working with patients?
Physioballs provide a highly mobile surface upon which to stand as well as a flexible surface requring balance.

Physioballs allow us to challenge our patients (especially neurological patients) with an unstable surface and a non compliant surface (sand is also a non compliant surface). Depending upon the condition a dog or cat who cannot stand may be placed on its own over a peanut shaped ball which allows the patient to be in his/her normal upright standing position for the first time in days. For these dogs and cats it is an immediate spirit pick up and it allows us to provide the them with some weight bearing and weight shifting.

With other patients we may have them standing on a ball (with a physical therapist or technician protecting them) to challenge their coordination and balance.

What is a low level laser and how does it work?
The word LASER is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Low level laser is a form of laser that projects the light it produces into the cells of the body instead of heat. The light is absorbed by the skin and underlying tissues. Mitochondria in the cells of the tissue convert this light into Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) (an energy source) which increases enzyme production, increases cell replication, increases growth factor formation and essentially provides the building blocks for the cell to heal damaged tissue.

In terms of your pet's perception, or even your own if you were to use it on yourself, it will appear as though nothing is happening. All the activity is taking place at the cellular level. There is no heat and no sensation of any kind though the benefits will become clear quite quickly.

Benefits of low level laser therapy Include:

• Reduces the formation of scar tissue
• Decreases pain
• Improves neural recovery
• Enhances immune responses
• Decreases inflammation

Assists in wound healing by:

• Accelerating the formation of epithelial cells at the edges of the wound.
• Accelerating granulation of tissue in the center of the wound
• Antibacterial effects

What is Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES)?
It is the administration of an electrical current generated by a stimulator that travels through leads to electrodes placed on the skin to depolarize the motor nerve and produce a skeletal muscle contraction.

What does Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation do?
For animals who have experienced significant muscle mass loss as a result of neurological injuries or due to muscle disuse following an injury, electrical stimulation minimizes muscle atrophy and improves sensory awareness.

Supportive Slings and Harnesses
We use a variety of supportive slings and harnesses to provide a dog with support in standing and walking.  Slings can be used to support non ambulatory patients, patients with weakness or paralysis of the hindlimbs or to aid in walking with post orthopedic surgery patients.

Walking with the aid of a sling will protect the patient, allow them some mobility, and in the case of neurologically challenged patients, the psychological boost of being in an upright, standing position for the first time in days.  Standing with the aid of a harness provides important sensory feedback, while walking helps to promote the development of muscle mass if it has been lost due to disuse or neurological wasting.  Standing can also help to decrease or prevent congestion of the lungs for patients who would otherwise be lying down for long periods of time.

For post neurological surgery pets or for pets with neurological symptoms we recommend a harness or sling that will provide support of the pelvic region as apposed to a belly sling.  The pelvic support prevents hyperflexion of the spinal cord which can irritate or damage surgical, or painful sites.

Supportive slings come in a range of sizes and harness types. Please call the physical therapy department if you have questions about your pet and his or her specific needs.