I’m Julia Martin an ACPAT Veterinary Physiotherapist, Category A Member – and have worked since 1983, always through referral from veterinary surgeon colleagues. Over these many years of my physiotherapy work it has been hugely exciting to be part of the development and ongoing integration of physiotherapy within the small animal veterinary team caring for our beloved pets.
Throughout my life I’ve had the wonderful pleasure of having dogs and cats and so very much understand how powerfully poignant they become in our lives with the incredible emotional journeys we share together.
As we all know even with ‘elite athletes’ (human and animal), they too have
their own specific potential physical weaknesses to consider, especially with fitness, training and mental health / emotional ‘well-being’ programmes.
Physiotherapy for our pets, as with humans, can be of tremendous benefit, in optimising and retuning physical weaknesses to help resolve pain problems. This treatment focus also includes rewiring the neuro-musculoskeletal (MSK) pathways following injury, trauma and weakness. The essential part of small animal physio work is in developing new trust and confidence levels in each individual animal and owner. With this approach, and especially within a safe and nurturing environment, patients can learn, develop and memorise new movement patterns that can also bring transformational psychological benefits.
Since 1980 my MSK experience in treating people (including veterinary colleagues and owners who have often referred themselves) has proved extremely invaluable. I have always been passionate in educating and empowering my patients and clients with knowledge to help themselves – including how to selectively grade self-treatment techniques and exercises that reduce / negate pain, increase mobility, increase mental wellbeing and ultimately optimise functional fitness and quality of life.
For every client and small animal patient referred, it is an essential part of my duty of care to uphold and use the best selection and integrated combination of assessment, treatment and management skills to help support my clients and their most truly individual, precious and dearest family pets.
To further the development of best clinical outcomes, it is also very current within the vast clinical healthcare arena (both with humans and animals) to include the evidence based science information for compassion focused clinical practice. The ongoing challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic, has been a powerful example for envisaging, considering and creating new healthcare approaches, that like never before, include escalated clinically informed compassion focused recovery care pathways.
I am a self-employed physiotherapist who has a particularly close professional affinity working with neuro-orthopaedic small animal referrals especially from Grove Lodge Vets and Wilbury Veterinary Surgery (- where in the past, I have held regular physio clinics). I also receive referrals from neurological and orthopaedic veterinary specialists.
My small animal physiotherapy work has always been strongly driven by understanding the very great and deep relationship that we have and develop with our beautiful pets.
Since 2018 I have developed my physiotherapy clinic at home. This was essential in response to providing escalated palliative care for my mother’s dog Poppy. The focus on palliative care quality for both humans and animals has certainly increased greatly, particularly in recent years – alongside rapidly growing scientific based evidence regarding the importance of compassion focused approaches.
Good transparency in communication with professional reasoning have always been key in the development of my physiotherapy clinic work with my veterinary colleagues and clients. The decision to work from my home address was met with complete approval from the Clinical Directors of both Grove Lodge Vets and Wilbury Veterinary Surgery. They particularly could understand the importance of being able to offer a high quality clinical environment. I can also be more generous with consultation and treatment time for owners and their pets, particularly with the more complex neuro-orthopaedic pain referrals or sensitive or palliative care referral cases.
Since opening my physiotherapy clinic for dogs and cat referrals, owners have very positively said how relaxed they and their pets are within my clinic setting. Included in my clinic’s electrotherapy modalities range is a Chattanooga Class 3b laser therapy unit.
In direct response to COVID-19 pandemic and the strict Health & Safety Policy rules that I have to work by as an ACPAT Veterinary Physiotherapist, I am pleased to announce that the large garden clinic room that includes a 3 meter bifold door and 3 large Velux roof windows to maximise ventilation, including a Mitsubishi air conditioning unit with a powerful bolt-on air purifying device (comprising: Plasma Quad Technology that inhibits SARS-CoV-2 by 99.8%) opened in November 2020. The new clinic building project also included paving work to increase options for dog referral assessments regarding lameness and gait reviews. I instigated this work as very much a symbol of my professional pledge, duty of care and commitment to my small animal referral work that I love.
