Veterinary rehabilitation is ideal for those pets that have sustained an injury, undergone surgery, or who suffer from arthritis.  Essex Animal Hospital’s Canine Rehab and Fitness Center will be able to provide your pet with many options for veterinary physical rehabilitation, depending on their individual needs.

Cryotherapy and Heat
Superficial heat and cold applications are used as an adjunct to treatment often before or after exercise to relieve pain, increase circulation, promote relaxation, increase tissue extensibility or minimize inflammation.

Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation
Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation is a modality used for stimulation of nerves to promote muscle contraction for strengthening, range of motion, decreasing inflammation and pain. It is especially useful in treating neurological conditions and in managing post operative pain and muscle weakness.

Therapeutic Ultrasound
Therapeutic ultrasound is the use of sound waves on tissues to create certain physiological effects.  It is different from diagnostic ultrasound in that a picture is not generated and a different frequency is used.  The uses of therapeutic ultrasound include:

• Increasing circulation
• Increasing contractility of muscle fibers (to increase range of motion)
• Decreasing scar tissue 
• Decreasing pain and muscle spasm
• Decreasing inflammation
• Accelerating wound healing

Therapeutic Laser Therapy
The uses of therapeutic laser therapy include:

• Back Pain/Joint Pain
• Arthritis Pain Relief
• Wound Healing such as skin injuries and surgical incisions
• After orthopedic surgery or muscular-skeletal injuries

Land Treadmill
Like our underwater treadmill therapy, we also use a specially developed canine land treadmill to increase strength, balance and coordination.  This form of therapy has advantages in some situations:

• Strengthening and bone growth stimulation
• Development of specific muscle groups is possible due to ability to vary incline/decline of treadmill
• More beneficial at certain stages of post-joint surgery rehabilitation (ie cruciates, hips, elbows)

One of the limitations of the land treadmill is that there is no ability to reduce pressure on the joints as there is with the hydro-treadmill therapy. Therefore, hydro-treadmill therapy is used primarily for patients with joint pain, whereas land treadmill therapy is used primarily for strengthening in the absence of pain, or for gait training.

Therapeutic Exercise
Therapeutic exercise is the cornerstone of physical rehabilitation, has many benefits and is appropriate for a variety of conditions. Exercise can:

• improve cartilage and ligament health
• improve muscle mass and strength
• prevent or reverse osteoporosis, increase circulation
• decrease pain
• reduce obesity, and
• improve overall function and mobility

Types of exercise can include:

• strengthening
• flexibility
• range of motion
• balance and proprioceptive exercises to encourage weight shifting, dynamic balance and conscious awareness of limb position sense.
• endurance training