Physio Expertise
A Chartered Physiotherapist & ACPAT Veterinary Physiotherapist will have trained for at least 6 years to qualify . The professional body overseeing these Chartered Physiotherapists is the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Animal Therapy (ACPAT).
ACPAT Physios first study for three years to attain a degree in human physiotherapy. This training includes at least 1000 hours of supervised hands on practical physiotherapy within the NHS. After working as a Physio with people ACPAT physios go on to study at Masters Level for a further 2 or 3 years to learn to use those Physiotherapy skills with animals. We learn animal anatomy, physiology, biomechanics , relevant pathologies and treatment options, the operations performed and relevant medication.
The initial human training is invaluable for learning and honing the skills in neuro-musculoskeletal assessment and treatment techniques. Working with people first, allows physiotherapists to sensitise their hands and to refine their treatment techniques so that their feel is fine tuned.
Physiotherapy promotes quality of movement and healing of tissues leading to optimising functional outcome and the quality use of the body. It is a science based profession that uses scientific research (ref) as part of assessment and treatment strategies. Chartered Physiotherapists are professional clinicians with a depth of core knowledge that includes anatomy and physiology, joint mechanics, functional biomechanics, disease pathophysiology and tissue healing. We are experts in rehabilitation and provide assessment and treatment for animals post-op, pre-op, post injury, neuro issues and for conservative management (ref)
The skilled part of any treatment is the training and knowledge needed to decide what specific type of treatment, what dosages to apply, how often to treat, where to treat, treating the correct tissue type according to the current state of the damaged tissues and most importantly when not to treat. Hence a detailed biomechanical and functional assessment is undertaken before clinical reasoning is used to decide on a relevant treatment program.
Physiotherapy is not prescriptive, each case is unique and treatment relies on the assessment. Physiotherapy is often subtle interventions to enhance the way of moving, promote healing of tissues, providing suitable home therapy for the owner to do and regular physiotherapy check-ups to progress rehabilitation.
Assessment and Treatment focus on
- Proprioception – injury, operations and pain negatively impact proprioception and improving it is often the first port of call for treatment
- Joint range of movement and quality of movement
- Core stability – good core muscles are required for correct limb movement
- tissue healing – bone, tendon, ligament, muscle, fascia, joint
- remove compensatory movements – this promotes quality movement, correct functional movement and reduces risk of further injury
- promote quality movement – the over-arching principal
- daily function with the best body use
