Day in the life of a Vet Physio at the NAVP Conference

On the 26th September 2025 I was lucky enough to be able to attend the NAVP conference which covered a whole host of interesting lectures.  If you want to take a peek into my day at the conference you can watch that video here- https://youtu.be/DVq7mN6wUBA 

In this blog I am going to attempt to summarise 6 lectures in a way that makes them easy for you to understand.  They were all super interesting and if you want more information about any of them please feel free to reach out for a chat.  

Lets jump straight in: we started the day off looking at joint injections for OA (arthritis).  

OA is more common than you might think.  The most recent research suggests that 40% of dogs under 4 have OA already! OA is not just an issue in old dogs but in increasingly younger dogs too.  

OA causes joint pain due to changes in the joint environment and this pain leads to decreased movement causing more pain.  

There are many medications used in dogs with OA but the only ones research suggests work are amantadine and NSAID’s.  There is also evidence to suggest that keeping our dogs a healthy weight and moderating exercise is the most effective way of managing OA pain and progression.  

There are however a number of different joint injections that can be used in dogs, some are used commonly in the UK, others are not.  Joint injections for treatment of OA are not as common in dogs as they are in humans and horses but they can still be a useful treatment option to explore.  

Let's look at the most common:

• Steroids- reduce joint pain and inflammation but they can lead to cartilage damage and do become less effective over time and take 3 days to see effects 

• Local anesthetics- also lead to increased cartilage degradation 

• PRP (protein rich plasma)-  average effective time is 3-6mth and takes 3days-1wk to see effects is often given alongside stem cells

• Stem cells- effective for 90-180 days on average but in dogs with ED they have been seen to be effective for up to 18mth.  

• Radiosynoviorthesis- not yet available in the UK but is available in the US.  Used to improve joint health by improving health of the synovium and have 12mth efficacy in dogs and no cartilage degradation or side effects.  92% improved if mild-moderate OA and 75% improved if severe OA and takes 4 weeks to see effects.

Are joint injections right for your dog? 

Candidates for joint injections are dogs with joint motion reduced by 10-15% and pain scores of more than 4 when assessed by you and your vet.  

Joint injections cannot be used to prevent OA except stem cell injections in dogs who have an ED (elbow dysplasia) diagnosis.  In dogs with ED, surgery has a high complication rate and is often associated with more OA development, plus stem cell treatment is less effective after surgery.  

Laser therapy has also been seen to be effective in reducing lameness and pain scores in dogs with ED.  However these sessions do need to be weekly as there is no lasting effect.  

Dogs with ED also have a higher incidence of shoulder tendon injuries so if you dogs struggle with ED you should get their shoulders assessed too.  

We also looked at some common injuries in sporting dogs- Gracilis muscle contracture and lumbosacral issues.  These are the leading causes of retirement in working and sporting dogs. Both are progressive but veterinary physiotherapy is effective at slowing progression.  

But how do we as vet physio’s know what exercises work best for you dogs? 

1. We look at the research 

2. We consider if the muscle is a flexor or extensor 

3. We consider if we want to increase joint mobility or muscle mass/strength 

Most exercises will do more than 1 thing and affect multiple areas of the body so we took some time to go through some of the more overlooked exercises which will help me give your dogs more variety in their at home exercises.  Unfortunately a lot of these exercises require a lot of equipment so I am in the process of thinking of everyday options.  

The last lecture I will share with you was all about cognitive, emotional and behavioural health in our dogs.  We took a look at the Heath Model which you can find more about here- #012 Sarah Heath

But if your wanting a quick summary here is my take on it and how it can help you understand your dog better:

Each dog has a natural predisposition (just like us humans) for being optimistic more positive/engaging or pessimistic more negative/protective.  Positive/engaging emotions are desire seeking, play, lust and care whereas negative/protective emotions are fear, pain, frustration and grief.  And just like use our dogs can feel different emotions at the same time.  

We also have to understand that all dogs have different tolerance levels/emotional capacity meaning that some dogs can experience more emotions without feeling overwhelmed than others.  We can increase our dogs emotional capacity by making sure their downtime and sleep needs (16-18hrs per day) are met.  

When our dogs become overwhelmed this leads to frustration which leads to an increase in behaviour speed and intensity, if we do not allow time for our dogs to relax this is where they can become confrontational.  

It is important as dog owners that we are aware of appeasement behaviours, inhibition behaviours (stopping and staring) and avoidance behaviours that are all signals that our dogs need space.   

Our dogs are very clever so we can use things like learning and food which is a social facilitator to help provide positive associations between activities but we must ensure we don’t do too much or we may push our dog to overwhelm.  

All in all I had an amazing time at the NAVP conference and remember if you want to see what else I got up to you can watch my day here- https://youtu.be/DVq7mN6wUBA