Recently we have been lucky enough to have a hydrotherapy - underwater treadmill open up locally in Lara at Rosewood Farm Group Pty Ltd and I thought I'd take a moment or two just to fill you in on how great this can be for our canine pals. Hydrotherapy can play a vital role in rehabilitation and conditioning and works wonderfully well when combined with regular massage.
Just to admit self interest here - I have been running the hydrotherapy on Fridays for Stephen and Iming while the talented hydrotherapist Rebecca Cutler and Michael Yeo of Cradle - holistic canine natural therapies have been running the Saturday and Wednesday respectively.
Hydrotherapy simply means "therapy in water". It is one of the oldest forms of rehabilitation and is now becoming increasingly popular for the rehabilitation and care of dogs. It takes advantage of the buoyancy provided by water reducing the amount of weight bearing on limbs and the viscosity of the water making movement slower and more supported which is beneficial for improving balance and building muscle through resistance.
There are two types of hydrotherapy - Underwater treadmill and Swimming.
At the moment Rosewood only has the underwater treadmill up and running but they have big plans for adding a pool later in the year.
An underwater treadmill is a land base treadmill in a tank of warm water - the warmth of the water helps the muscles to relax, so comfort increases, joints loosen and movement is overall much easier than on land. Sessions are usually short with rest periods in between - particularly to begin with as walking through chest deep water is very tiring and the good news is you don't have to exercise your dog on hydrotherapy days (in fact you shouldn't, as they will be completely worn out afterwards)
Benefits Of The Underwater Treadmill
Ease of movement of painful of healing structures
Improved weight bearing on land
Gait re-education following spinal or neurological injury or disease
Prevention of muscle atrophy (wastage)
Accelerated muscle strengthening
Faster return to previous function following injury or surgery
Improved joint range of motion
Balance re-training
Maintaining and prolonging mobility of senior pets
Conditioning for sport and show ring
Weight loss
The video is of Korben in the treadmill at Rosewood Farm. A lot of dogs can be nervous of going into a glass tank and when the water starts filling up it can be daunting but most adjust very quickly and seem to even look forward to it. Both my dogs get excited when we go there and are eager to get into the tank now (could have something to do with the treats ... maybe.. haha). Korben is a bit lazier than Leeloo and will try and slack off if he thinks he can get away with it but we have been building duration steadily in the few weeks they have been going and they are both easily doing three sessions of 4.5 minutes with 2 minutes rest in between. Our goal is to build up to a straight 15 minute session for conditioning purposes but gradual increase is much better for the dog than trying to do too much too soon.
Types of Conditions that Benefit from Hydrotherapy - Orthopedic
Cruciate surgery or injury
medial patella luxation surgery or conservative management
Elbow dysplasia - conservative management, post surgical management, arthritis management
Hip dysplasia - conservative management, post surgical management, arthritis management
Shoulder instability
Fracture repair
Arthritis
Spondylosis
Polyarthritis
Limb amputation
Ligament repair
Arthrodesis
Senior pets with weakness, poor mobility
Types of Conditions that Benefit from Hydrotherapy - Neurological
IVDD - surgical or conservative management
FCE
Degenerative myelopathy
Polyradiculoneuritis
Polyneuropathy
Wobblers
Degenerative neurological conditions
Brachial plexus injury
Any of the above conditions require a veterinary referral before commencing hydrotherapy and you will be required to have the vet notes provided to Rosewood. If however you have a perfectly healthy dog or one with no underlying issues but could do to lose weight you can book straight in and get your dog fit in no time.
If you have any questions about hydrotherapy or your dog has tried hydrotherapy before please feel free to comment below and let me know your experiences.