The Growing Importance of Physical Therapy in Veterinary Medicine
Veterinary medicine is just like any other scientific field; it is constantly growing, changing, and evolving to better address the needs of the people who rely on it, human and otherwise. The medical advancements being made for animals today are bringing overall wellbeing and quality of life for beloved pets into the forefront of the field, and one of the ways that this is happening is through the increasing importance of physical therapy!
Physical therapy is something that humans have relied on for decades, but applying its benefits to our animal companions is relatively new. It’s quickly growing in popularity, and research confirming its efficacy and importance is only contributing to its rise as a commonplace practice in veterinary medicine. The benefits that physical therapy can offer to all pets, including yours, can be truly transformative!
Improved Recovery
Illness or injury is something that every pet owner dreads for their furry friend, but the reality is that as with humans, sometimes they are unavoidable. The good news is that treatment options like physical therapy can keep illness or injury from seriously impacting your pet’s quality of life, mobility, and pain levels.
By reducing pain and swelling, increasing strength, range of motion, and endurance, and improving joint and nerve function, physical therapy can bring recovery closer within your pet’s reach. Even more beneficial is that physical therapy is a non-invasive approach that won’t increase an animal’s stress, and its pain-relieving benefits can even decrease the need for medications like NSAIDS, which can have negative side effects with long term use.
Future Injury Prevention
Any good physical therapist can tell you that the exercises and practice of PT are not just about healing current or recent injuries; they’re also about preventing future injuries from occurring down the line. Weakness, decreased range of motion, and affected function from an injury or illness can often create the perfect storm for more injuries to happen as a result. If you’ve ever sprained an ankle and then continued to hurt the same ankle over and over, you know the feeling, and this can happen to your cat, dog, or other pet as well.
Physical therapy can significantly reduce the risk of future injuries by improving strength and function, as well as minimizing effects like atrophy and muscle loss. The saying goes that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure, and this can be completely true when it comes to keeping a pet happy and healthy through physical therapy!
Chronic Condition Management
Some conditions for an animal are not as finite as others. Injuries can heal, but illnesses like arthritis or age-related joint degeneration aren’t going anywhere, and will only get worse with time. Physical therapy, however, can often be the key to keeping these conditions at bay or slowing their progress, keeping a pet mobile, comfortable, and happy for as long as possible.
Treating chronic conditions is a tricky task for both humans and animals, but addressing them with physical therapy is not only non-invasive and easy, but is highly effective and beneficial as well. The exercises and modalities of regular physical therapy can help to manage the pain and discomfort of these problems and often keep them from significantly worsening in a short span of time as they would if left untreated. For pets with chronic health problems, it can often be the key to a longer, happier, more pain-free life!
As veterinary medicine evolves, physical therapy for animals and pets is sure to grow in availability and importance. You can contact us today to learn more about this treatment option!