Resources

Different muscles play different roles in posture and movement, and effectively assessing their function can only be achieved with the help of professionals such as vets and therapists. Therefore, work with a professional to get effective therapeutic and performance enhancing aims for your dog…BUT understanding more about these muscles and their roles, will help you […]

Different muscles play different roles in posture and movement, and effectively assessing their function can only be achieved with the help of professionals such as vets and therapists. Therefore, work with a professional to get effective therapeutic and performance enhancing aims for your horse…BUT understanding more about these muscles and their roles, will help you […]

Pain can be really hard to distinguish. Especially when it is mild, and when it is in an animal that uses totally different “language” to us! Additionally, different types of pain, such as visceral (internal organ) and musculoskeletal (muscles, bones and joints), and whether it is acute or chronic, can have different signs. However it […]

Patella luxation is a really common pathology, with certain breeds more prone than others, such as Pomeranian, Yorkshire Terrier, Chihuahua, French Bulldog, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Bichon Frise, Pug, West Highland Terrier, Jack Russell Terrier, Shit-tzu, and Staffordshire Bull Terrier (Di Dona et al. 2018; Boge et al. 2019). However it can also be caused […]

As mentioned in a previous blog, sport dogs can get a variety of injuries, such as: Agility – shoulder muscular injuries such as biceps brachii tenosynovitis, medial shoulder instability, and carpal injuries (Baltzer, 2012), and iliopsoas muscle strain (Markley et al. 2021) Flyball – chronic ligament laxity and achilles/calcaneal tendon rupture (Baltzer, 2012) Racing Greyhounds – general […]

There is often 2 types of horses in this modern world, leisure horses and competition horses. Both types can get injured just being a typical horse and spooking at that scary tree! But as we have developed the sporting world, we have developed the horses within them, and this in turn has improved performance, but […]

So you have had your dog for a while…they suddenly get a limp or start moving oddly…you go to the vet and find out they have ruptured their cruciate ligament, or they have intervertebral disc disease…and you find out this is “common” for your dogs breed…and you wonder why you didn’t know about this before…. […]

Did you know a sit can tell us a story?! Does your dog sit squarely, with hind legs “tucked in”, equal weight through the forelimbs with elbows tucked in and nice and straight through the back? Or do they sit with the hind legs rotated out so you can see the hind paws? Can they […]

Lameness is a gait abnormality, a type of asymmetrical movement caused by structural or functional issues of the locomotor system. It is usually a symptom, and a manifestation of pain. 1) Check for heat and a pulse or any sign of obvious injury to a limb Forelimb lameness 2) A forelimb lameness can be identified […]

So previously I have spoken about the use of Physiotherapy, and a therapy “journey”…. and I just wanted to create a little update based on comments of other therapists and their experiences. Many go in to this job because they love animals, and really want to make a difference. And it can be disheartening when […]

As I have mentioned many times before, pole work is great for improving proprioception (neural ability to know where your limbs are in relation to the world) and coordination, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness, core stability, joint range of motion and health, and dynamic stretching of muscles.You can increase proprioceptive challenging by arranging sporadic poles […]

Let’s talk obesity! It is a huge issue in horse and dog welfare in the UK. Being overweight puts huge strain on the body systems, particularly the joints and can predispose to conditions such as osteoarthritis. Body condition scoring can be a great way to monitor your animal’s weight. Weigh tapes are not accurate as […]

Core stability is an important concept to ensure appropriate biomechanical function. Core stability assists with the dorsal ventral chain, and by achieving core stability, contraction of the long back musculature is reduced (de Oliveria et al. 2015), which assists with back function by allowing greater ventral flexion rather than extension (figure 1). Core engagement involves […]

So the walk is a 4 beat gait with no suspension phase. That means your horse and dog have to use concentric (shortening) and eccentric (lengthening) muscle contractions for every stride to produce movement, and isometric (contractions without a change in muscle length such as core muscles). Whereas in trot and canter where there is […]

What is it? It is the cranial cruciate ligament that can be torn (shown with the arrow in the image). It is the same as the ACL in humans! But as dogs have an anatomically different knee (stifle) to us, if this ligament is torn, even just partially, their femur and tibia can slide away […]

Desmopathy means ligament disease, such as desmitis (ligament inflammation), but can occur without inflammation and be fascial restriction or nerve compression. The suspensory ligament (figure 1), is present in the fore and hindlimbs, with prognosis of hindlimb injury being much more guarded than forelimb, and with hindlimb often being bilateral in presentation and linked to […]

So although we could comment on a LOT of things with my position (such as my horribly contracted hip flexors!)…we are going to focus on the horse This horse is slightly older in age, and suffers from bilateral hock osteoarthritis, and has always had a slightly stubborn and “lazy” temperament (unless jumping!) These 2 images […]