Well we finally had our first session of physiotherapy, and are having our second one next week. The physio lady did a thorough examination of Penny and tested all her joints for range of motion, muscle mass etc. She said that basically what we will be doing is working on general body condition. She said it's like the treatment regimes she recommends for althetic dogs she sees - like competing agility dogs etc. I was a little disappointed by this as I was hoping for some more specific exercises to target specific areas of her body as her issues are loose hips, but we'll see how it goes for a few weeks. Hopefully by improving her overall condition we will see an improvement to her hips as well. She also said that Penny is hyper flexible, which is really good because it means she's reay fast as she can extend her stride a lot more than most dogs, but can also be bad as she could hurt herself by flexing too much. She got out a balance board and showed us some exercises to start with - Pennh has to keep her front feet on the board and learn to stand on it for longer and longer over time. And also to do some sit/stands whilst keeping her front feet in the same place on the board. Being super smart Pennh picked this up within five minutes - it's partly how I've been teaching her the pivot move for Rally - by learning to place her feet on a book on the floor she learns to keep them in the same place and move the rest of her body accordingly. So these exercises have been a doddle to teach. I went straight home and ordered my own balance board for Penny and she loves it, as soon as she sees it she knows exactly what to do and stands on it straight away. Fingers crossed well be seeing some improvement soon.
Re: Physiotherapy That sounds great I guess regardless of Penny's specific problem she needs to reach a certain overall basis of condition before you work on specifics. I know the same was certainly true for me when I was competing and I don't see why it would be any different for dogs
Re: Physiotherapy I'm glad you have had your first appointment . Hopefully it will help Penny in the long run sounds a bit fun too x
Re: Physiotherapy [quote author=Penny+Me link=topic=5375.msg67648#msg67648 date=1397246378] She got out a balance board and showed us some exercises to start with - Pennh has to keep her front feet on the board and learn to stand on it for longer and longer over time. And also to do some sit/stands whilst keeping her front feet in the same place on the board. [/quote] Both of these exercises will help build muscle on the hind, which is what you want, I guess. I can't see that muscle building to support hips could be more targeted. Wobble cushions or balance boards at the front shift the weight to the back to balance (not the same as humans who move side to side to balance). And sit to stands also build muscle on the hind.
Re: Physiotherapy [quote author=JulieT link=topic=5375.msg67740#msg67740 date=1397290734] [quote author=Penny+Me link=topic=5375.msg67648#msg67648 date=1397246378] She got out a balance board and showed us some exercises to start with - Pennh has to keep her front feet on the board and learn to stand on it for longer and longer over time. And also to do some sit/stands whilst keeping her front feet in the same place on the board. [/quote] Both of these exercises will help build muscle on the hind, which is what you want, I guess. I can't see that muscle building to support hips could be more targeted. Wobble cushions or balance boards at the front shift the weight to the back to balance (not the same as humans who move side to side to balance). And sit to stands also build muscle on the hind. [/quote] Actually, now you've said this I can see how the exercises will help in that respect. The physio also mentioned something about eventually getting her to put her hind legs on the balance board and I have no idea how we are going to get her to do that!!
Re: Physiotherapy I never thought I'd get Charlie to stand on wobble cushion with his back legs - I managed it in the end by C&T towards the stance I wanted. Then we press the cushion so he shifts his weight to use the muscles we are targeting. It's a faff, and he will eat the cushions, he's punctured a couple now. I'll ask about a balance board next time I go, it might be a bit easier for me.
Re: Physiotherapy When I say balance board I do mean cushion... It's like an exercise ball but smaller and flatter. I think a balance board would work the same and probably survive a bit of chewing! The ones I've seen are wood or plastic.
Re: Physiotherapy Ok, second session down. She has given us a whole range of new exercises to learn and practise and we'll go back in four weeks for a check up. New exercises to do: Back legs on wobble cushion Standing for extended periods with from feet on wobble cushion Standing with back legs on and lifting each front paw Front feet on wobble cushion and going down into a bow and back up And just to carry in with what we've been doing previously. Wish us luck! Penny doesn't seem too keen on putting her back feet on the cushion just yet so that may take us a while.
Re: Physiotherapy I'm so pleased the Physio went well. Keep practising those exercises! Best wishes to you both
Re: Physiotherapy what would help her with putting her back legs on the cushion would be to teach her a back command, then place a large but fairly flat book on the floor so that she moves her back feet onto the book, click and treat this until she understands that she has to move her feet back onto the book then transfer this to the cushion. Anyway sounds like she is doing well, hope that it does her good and helps with her loose hips.
Re: Physiotherapy So we're having a bit of trouble learning to put the back feet on the wobble cushion. I've been using the method you suggested Annabelle, as that's how we taught it with the front feet. The trouble is she seems to step around the cushion so her back feet are straddling it - she stands weird anyway sometimes so it doesn't help. Anyone have anymore ideas? Julie did you do this exercise with Charlie? How did you teach it?
