Greetings from Knoxville, TN! I am here for the next week starting my training to become certified in canine rehab at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. I’m super excited to learn more about this rapidly growing area of veterinary medicine. While physical therapy in humans is common, there has been more attention focused on rehabilitation of small animal patients in recent years.
Some of you may have met the wonderful Dr. Lobos who used to do rehab at the clinic. Sadly for us and our patients, Dr. Lobos moved to Colorado this past summer. I started to think a lot more about how beneficial rehab was for so many of our patients and began to explore getting certified. Some benefits of rehab in our canine patients include: increased strength and endurance, reduced pain, increased speed of recovery post surgery, and improved quality of movement. Rehab can be a nice way to complement traditional pharmacological management of chronic conditions. It can also be used as an alternative for our patients who cannot tolerate traditional drugs used for pain management and arthritis. There are so many modalities and exercises to learn about- all aimed at creating the perfect individualized plan for our pets.
Looking forward to sharing what I learn with you all, so stay tuned!
