Coral Springs Animal Hospital's Pawfessional PAWfessional Rehab Issue 2017 | Page 25

hold up their body weight, mimicking standing and engaging muscle activity. Overweight patients can also benefit from underwater treadmill by providing endurance with less resistance on the joints, and achieving better cardiovascular health. Therapeutic exercises are performed with patients to help improve strength in an injured or weakened limb, enhance core strength, and enhance proprioception. Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation, also referred to as E-stim, provides significant muscle activation especially for post- operative or neurologic patients whose muscle strength and control may be weakened or absent. Patients that are non-ambulatory due to neurologic dysfunction or recovering from a hemi-laminectomy, benefit from proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation training by encouraging sensory stimulation and motor function. Manual therapy such as passive range of motion and joint compressions stimulate mechanoreceptors within the joint providing joint nutrition, flexibility, and the release of endorphins to alleviate pain and inflammation. Soft tissue manipulation, also known as massage, is very therapeutic to patients that have taut musculature due to over compensation from an injury elsewhere. Massage also encourages lymph movement which is beneficial for patients that are recumbent, to help improve circulation and allow oxygen