5 best small low-calorie training treats

If you’re worried your pet has any pain or restriction you need to speak with your vet and vet physio (you can email me here at zoe@fitpetphysio.com) before starting a massage programme but if your pets fit and healthy and you want to add massage to their fitness routine or just give them a little treat here’s your 5 step guide to getting started with at-home pet massage.

As agility handlers, we spend a huge portion of our time taking care of and training our dogs. Buying them the best food, ensuring they have the right tug and even buying them the best beds and coats. But we often forget the importance of a good warm-up and cool down.

The fitness exercises you choose will depend on your pet, either dog or horse and whether you want to focus on muscle building, strength or range of motion.

Can horse's have vet physio? And should they? YES and YES! I’m a firm believer that all pets should receive regular vet and vet physio sessions to keep them happy and healthy. But why?

Can we cure back pain and can Veterinary Physiotherapy help? So the short answer is yes! But if you’d like to know more about the causes and specific treatments used, keep reading and you’ll discover the 2 leading causes of back pain in dogs and horses and the best treatment.

Problems in these muscles, due to their size, can be tricky for pet owners to notice so are often missed until they become larger more debilitating issues. But knowing where these muscles are and what they do can help you notice small changes sooner.

Unlike in humans the quads in our dogs and horse's are set deeper than in humans, meaning that it’s often hard to assess their true muscle mass. This is particularly important if your pet has stifle issues as the quad and stifle are directly linked as you’ll see in a moment!

Injury risk is increased due to changes in posture and muscle tension

After injury rest and controlled exercise is used to get pets moving again without causing further injury. This is especially important in the case of horse's as they require movement to effectively digest their food. Controlled exercise for horses can include lunging, long-reining and in-hand walking whereas in dogs slow lead walking is most commonly used. Hydrotherapy can be used in certain cases if it is available to you.

Massage is an effective treatment for pain and tension in muscles and subsequently aids in increasing stride length and increasing joint range of motion. Massage also aids in neurological conditions by stimulating nerve endings and their connections to the brain.

Weight shifting is a remedial exercise used in both dogs and horses to improve even weight bearing on all limbs, increase core strength and proprioception.

H- wave is used to aid in the healing of muscles, nerves and tendons as well as in the reduction of pain and oedema by mimicking the Hoffman reflex which allows for deeper penetration of the treatment. It causes a contraction of the tissues flushing out areas of oedema and stimulating nerves just as TENs does to reduce pain.

Laser is most commonly used to reduce pain at trigger points by altering endogenous opioid production in the same way that morphine works to reduce pain, reducing the action potential in nerve fibres so that the pain signal is not transmitted and also reducing substance P production which leads to a reduction in pain, similar to TENs.

Cold therapy is used to reduce blood flow- vasoconstrict, therefore, is useful for reducing heat and swelling in an area this is often the case in acute injuries or post-surgery.

Heat therapy is used to relieve muscle spasm, tension and areas of pain similar to how we would use laser therapy but heat can also be used pre-exercise or competition as a warm-up.

Ultrasound (US) is most commonly used in cases of tendon and ligament injury as well as muscle strains and fibrotic myopathy. US is suited to treating these conditions as it enhances collagen production and alignment leading to enhanced healing.

NMES is used to reduce atrophy (decreased muscle), increase neurological signals- stimulating muscle movement, muscle strength, ROM and blood flow in conjunction with a remedial exercise program.

Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy (PEMF) is a form of magnetic therapy that generates a low-level electromagnetic field. This aids in re-establishing cellular voltage, as when cells are injured their cellular voltage is altered causing changes in cellular activity. This can lead to a build-up of toxins in the muscle tissues leading to pain and reduced function and length of the muscle.

TENS also known as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation is used to reduce pain by stimulating the opioid mechanism in the same way as pain relief such as morphine but without the difficulty of getting your pet to take pills- we've all been there!