“She had had intermittent bouts of lameness over several years and was now limping on a variety of legs with alarming regularity. She was lack-lustre on exercise and a little lethargic at home. After consultation with veterinary surgeon David Constantine at Grove Lodge, it was decided to refer her to Julia for physiotherapy.”
Her problems for referral included arthritis that had significantly reduced movement ranges in both her front legs at her wrist joints (carpii). She also had a severe lameness problem in her left hind leg. Alongside these lameness problems she presented neck pain and stiffness.
Despite medication, the lameness problems persisted. Says Julia: “Rosina’s referral is a good example of how complex pain and movement problems can be treated and managed by physiotherapy techniques.
“Treatment techniques had to be extremely carefully graded on a progressive level, as it was rather like dealing with a fractured egg shell that needed re-glueing and stabilising. It was also essential that Rosina felt relaxed and secure with the treatment techniques so that progress could be made with each stage.”
Julia used a variety of skilled manual techniques to provide pain relief, to improve joint mobility, muscle balance and power, and also to gain Rosina’s fluency of movement. The result: some six months later, Rosina was able to go on holiday and walk for an hour or more.
“At first it was quite slow progress,” says Rosina’s owner Jan, “but we persevered and improvement gradually became apparent. At each stage, Rosie was relaxing and enabling Julia to treat her more deeply.
“After a period of time she suddenly appeared to be walking more freely, and on our return from holiday, after several long walks, there was no obvious retrograde step.
“I realise how much Rosina has benefited from Julia’s professional and caring treatment.
“Rosina now chases around with joy and freedom unimagined a year ago, and I know that her senior years are going to be full and active thanks to this treatment.
“To those who have dogs with similar problems, I’d say physiotherapy really does work, although it takes time in the more complicated lameness problems like Rosina’s.
“Give your dog the chance of free, natural movement again. Rosie’s smile says it all.”
The veterinary surgeon’s viewpoint
“Jan is a long-standing client of Grove Lodge and Rosina has been a patient of mine for many years. She is a lovely, kind dog to examine and treat, but recently has been showing signs of lameness affecting her ability to enjoy life to the full.
“The diagnosis wasn’t too difficult but treatment with anti-inflammatories and analgesics showed only limited success. I knew Julia’s physiotherapy had been of value in several other canine cases.
“As always, referral was straightforward and rapid, and I haven’t yet known a client or patient who doesn’t get on well with Julia.
“I am certain that we should have been advising and using such techniques to treat dogs many years ago. Julia’s skill and ongoing advice are obvious in Rosina’s case; she is far more active, enjoys a relatively pain-free lifestyle and does not have to rely on increasing doses of medication to maintain this excellent quality of life.
“I would like to thank Julia for her help in so many of these cases. I know that Jan would echo this for Rosina in particular.”
David Constantine BVSc, MRCVS
Partner,
Grove Lodge Veterinary Hospital
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Zuka
Pelvic fracture |
Pod
Spinal disc trauma |
Rufus
Elbow dysplasia |
Spike
Front limb amputation |
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Sapphie
Orthopaedic multi-trauma |