VN October 2021

Vetnuus | Oktober 2021 32 Rehabilitation practitioners have a vast array of modalities available to them. A recent presentation (Savetcon Past Webinars 19 th August 2021) on how veterinary physiotherapists can assist with pain management revealed some of them. Modalities include relatively simple practices such as hot or cold packs. Almost every household has used these on family members at some time or the other. Your teenage son was tackled harshly at rugby practice, so an icepack was applied to the injured area. Your low back is aching after a long day at the office, so you climb into a hot bath, or prepare a hot water bottle before climbing into bed. Simple and effective relief from pain. Another fairly common modality is electrotherapy. How many people bought the muscle stimulator from Verimark that promised a 6-pack while you sat and watched television? That is EMS – electrical muscle stimulation. Rehab practitioners use this to prevent atrophy in compromised patients. Magnetic blankets (and boots) for use on horses has been available for quite some time. The field produced is either static or pulsed. Magnetic therapy has been used to treat soft tissue injuries, circulatory problems and hoof conditions. This therapy is not limited to horses. Humans and small animals may also benefit. The magnetic “equipment” varies, as does the price. Moving into equipment that is specific to physiotherapy consider therapeutic ultrasound and shockwave therapy. Both can assist with pain management but their effects reach far wider than that. Therapeutic ultrasound has thermal- and mechanical effects that aids in tissue repair. The effects differ depending on the phase of tissue repair. Shock wave therapy has been used very successfully to treat tendinitis and tendon injury. Laser therapy (VetNews February 2018) is another modality that is well researched and used worldwide. Moving out of the realm of equipment, a physical rehabilitation therapist has manual skills that can benefit an animal patient. These skills include therapeutic massage but are not limited to that. Soft tissue release, trigger point therapy and acupressure are included in this domain. A practitioner can become an expert in any one of these manual therapies. But wait, there’s more! Exercise is also therapy. Therapeutic exercises are aimed at strengthening an area, maintaining flexibility or improving proprioception . Hydrotherapy can bring relief from pain, assist with resetting movement patterns and also enhance cardiovascular fitness. To return to the question of the most valuable modality available to a physical rehabilitation practitioner – their minds, their training and their hands. Developing palpation skills yields enormous amounts of information on the individual patient. What is the Most Valuable Modality in the Physical Rehabilitation Practice? Tanya Grantham