At MobilityVet, we like to think of therapeutic exercise as the way to solidify your gains in rehabilitation. We work hard to reduce pain and get your pet moving again, but if we don’t correct the problem that contributed to the injury in the first place, more injury looms in the future! Now, this can vary by diagnosis but take cruciate ligament disease as an example. There are many theories as to what predisposes our canine patients to this very common problem. One strong contributor is weak or poor engagement of the hamstrings and glutes. There can also be excessive tension in the quads and gastrocs actively pulling the stifle out of alignment. Using targeted exercises, we can strengthen specific muscle groups, while using our other modalities and manual therapy skills to reduce tension in the ones that need to relax. In the end, this is what keeps your pet from re-injury and return to therapy. As much as we love you and your pet and would welcome the opportunity to serve you, our goal is to make ourselves irrelevant wherever possible!
Some other patients may require more long-term therapy, and our goal is also always to set appropriate expectations. A great example of this is with patients with degenerative conditions such as osteoarthritis or degenerative myelopathy. These patients may need ongoing strengthening to maintain their mobility and we can teach you to do this at home as well as support your efforts with our visits to make sure we are keeping our exercises relevant to your pet’s current condition.
Whatever your pet’s needs, therapeutic exercise is critical to the long-term success of their recovery!
We are here for you. For more information or to schedule a mobile vet visit for your pet, call us at 970-707-5626.