Lecture 15 - Small Animal Rehab Flashcards
What is physical therapy?
Science of application of anatomy, biomechanics, psychology, physics, and physiology to persons/animals with dysfunctions, injury, pain, or physical abnormalities.
Rehab is good for what types of injuries/animals?
- Athletes
- neurologic injuries
- Orthopedic injuries
- Arthritic animals
- Obese animals
- Geriatric animals
- Non-compliant owners
Why is joint immobilization bad?
- Cartilage degeneration
- Ligament degeneration
- Muscle atrophy
- Hypertrophy of scar tissue
How does cartilage degeneration occur with immobilization?
Decreased synovial fluid production, decreased diffusion into cartilage
What can joint immobilization ultimately lead to?
Decreased ROM
Increased pain, OA, functional impairment
What are the benefits of rehab?
- Maintains or increases joint ROM
- Slows development of OA (nutrition to cartilage)
- Decreases pain
- Shortens recovery time
- Increases quality of life
What are things to note during the patient assessment for rehab?
- Throrough history
- Lifestyle/expectations
- General PE
- Ortho exam
- Neuro exam
Pain management should aways be done with a _____ approach.
multimodal (EX: NSAID + heat therapy)
What are some important aspects of nursing care during rehab?
- Soft bedding
- Proper nutrition
- Monitoring for pressure sores
- Monitoring urination (scald, retention)
What non-specialized rehab equipment are used?
- Thermotherapy
- Passive ROM
- Massage therapy
- Land exercises (wheelbarrow, dancing, sit-to-stand, assisted ambulation)
What specialized rehab equipment are used?
- Underwater treadmill
- Pool
- Land treadmill
- Therapeutic ultrasound
- Neuromuscular electrical stimulation
- Low level laser therapy
- Land-based tools (physio-rolls, Cavaletti rails, stairs, balance board)
What is cryotherapy?
Superficial cold therapy applied to injured area usually 0-72 hours post injury.
What are benefits of cryotherapy?
- Skeletal muscle relaxation (improved venous/lymphatic flow, reduced edema)
- Vasoconstriction (reduced edema)
- Slows nerve conduction (analgesia)
How far do superficial heating agents penetrate and what is an example?
Up to 2 cm;
EX: warm packs
How far do deep heating agents penetrate and what is an example?
Up to 5 cm;
EX: therapeutic ultrasound
When should heating tissues be used?
Before or after ROM exercises
What do heating tissues do?
- Increase sensory and motor nerve conduction velocity –> reduce pain and muscle spasms (decreased pain perception)
- Relaxes muscles
- Increase blood and lymphatic flow
What does massage therapy do?
- Increase blood and lymphatic flow
- Breaks down adhesions
- Relaxes muscles
- Positive emotional state
When should massage therapy be done?
Before putting the animal on a treadmill or doing other physical exercises
When is massage therapy contraindicated?
When there is infection, neoplasia, open wounds, thromboembolic disease
What is passive ROM?
Motion in a joint without muscle contraction;
Manual flexion and extension of joints
What are benefits of land-based activities?
- Improve tissue strength
- Increase coordination and cardiovascular fitness
- Decrease joint stiffness/pain, muscle atrophy
When are land-based activities contraindicated?
When there is persistent pain, unstable fractures or luxations
What are benefits of Cavaletti rails?
- Increase active flexion
- Increase active extension
What does use of Cavaletti rails develop?
Proprioception, coordination, balance;
Used at end of therapy for neuro cases
What are benefits of using a balance board?
Improve blanace, proprioception, and coordination
What are benefits to using a land treadmill?
- Build strength and coordination
- Most dogs can be trained to use it
- Sometimes better than underwater treadmill
What are benefits of water-based exercises?
- Low impact
- Can be started early in the recovery phase
- Thermotherapy
- Resistance and viscosity
- Surface tension
- Buoyancy
Under what conditions might water therapy be contraindicated?
- Cardiac dysfunction
- Respiratory dysfunction
- Decreased thermal sensation
- Severe peripheral vascular disease
- Infection
- Diarrhea or incontinence
What are benefits of the underwater treadmill?
- Strengthen muscle mass
- Improve cardiovascular fitness
- Increased muscle circulation
- Increased joint flexibility
- Decreases pain
What are benefits to swimming?
- Increased joint flexion
- Increased cardiovascular workout
- Decreased load on joints vs. land
What does LASER stand for?
Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
What class is a cold laser?
4
What are the benefits of laser therapy?
- Decreases inflammation and promotes healing
- Improves wound healing
- Increases blood flow and cellular metabolism
- Acute and chronic pain relief
What does photobiostimulation do?
Modulates cellular functions (mitochondrial respiration, ATP synthesis, promotes muscle regeneration)
What are benefits of ultrasound therapy?
- Increases extensibility of tissues (Increased ROM, decreased contracture)
- Relaxes muscle spasm
- Helps with wound healing
What is ultrasound therapy?
Sound waves are converted to heat
What does Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation do?
- Muscle strengthening
- Muscle re-education
- Enhancing function
- Pain control
- Edema reduction
- Muscle spasm reduction
How can we measure the effects of rehab?
- Pain assessment
- Gait assessment
- Goniometry
- Measuring muscle mass
- Repeated orthopedic and neurologic exams
- Owner questionnaire
T/F: Rehab is a substitute for surgery and medical care.
False
