What's the Longissimus Dorsi and Why do we find muscle spasms there?

As we all know stretching is an important part of our warm-up and cool-down routines as humans to prevent muscle tension known as delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS. However in dogs and horse's we use a slightly different protocol for stretching.

Often the signs of chronic pain can be overlooked as bad behaviour, old age or even personality traits. This is especially true for those of us who have older pets as we often blame our pets age for any changes in their behaviour or activity, however, this may not always be the case.

Pole work exercises can be used in both dogs and horse's to improve their core strength, muscle mass, joint range of motion and proprioception.

Over 30% of sporting dogs suffer an injury at some point in their sporting career. These injuries are most commonly occur in the limbs, back and neck. Some of these injuries can be mild such as a cut to a pad or a cracked nail. These injuries cause only minor discomfort to our dogs and can be quickly treated (find out more in our laser blog). However, some injuries can be more serious and lead to a prolonged recovery for our dogs.

There are a number of different exercises used in dog rehabilitation and fitness programs. To know which ones best suit your dog and how to conduct them you should make an appointment to see your vet physio.

Pets who are overweight have more stress on their joints so exercise should be easy on their joints. Swimming and walking in water are great for this as they reduce the amount of weight your pet’s joints have to carry as they are supported by the water. Because of this, you should avoid high impact exercises like running, jumping and competing.

One of the most common things I hear from equestrians is ‘How do I increase my horse's (insert body area here)?’. And my answer is almost always hacking with different surfaces and hills. This type of work is a full body work out and can be done ridden or in hand so really is suitable for all horses. This type of work increases joint motion, muscle mass and strength, core strength and stride length. What doesn’t it do right?!

The biceps brachii muscle in our pets lies down the front of the forelimb as shown in this video. In the dog the bicep brachii starts just below the shoulder joint at the supraglenoid tubercle of the scapula and proceeds down the front of the forelimb to the radial tuberosity and proximedial ulna which is just before the elbow joint.

This is the muscle that allows our dogs to lift their limb up to go upstairs or over objects on the ground such as cavaletti or roots in the woods. The brachialis is a small muscle but has a huge function in the movement of the forelimbs in both our dogs and horses.

So the Tricep is the main antigravity muscle of the forelimb, this means that its responsible for keeping our pets upright and keeping their forelimb underneath them.

The major muscles of the hindlimbs are: The hamstrings- semimembranosus, semitendinosus, bicep femoris The quadriceps Sartorius Gastrocnemius Gluteals

The glutes are an interesting muscle group as they are quite different in their placement in the dog and the horse.

5 must-know exercises for you and your dog, how to train them and why you should!

Swimming or another form of hydrotherapy such as walking or trotting etc. in water is hugely beneficial to most horse's.

Has your dog just started licking their paws out of nowhere? Or perhaps they’ve been doing it for a while but now you’ve noticed they’re doing it more?

Ergh why is my horse lame?! It’s the age old question isn’t it. You know the saying “if you look at it long enough you’ll find a lameness” well it’s kinda the same with trying to find out why right?

Noticing a limb or lameness in our dogs can be a worrying time for us as owners. But firstly is your dog lame? How do you know and what should you look out for?

Interestingly horse's can sleep both laying down and standing up. Although the type and length of these sleeping periods do vary depending on if our horse's are stood or laid down.

Veterinary Physiotherapy uses a combination of manual therapies including massage as well as electrotherapies and exercise therapies. This gives your pet a bespoke and comprehensive treatment for any underlying conditions as well as a great basis for a fitness and conditioning plan in fit pets.