Therapeutic Ultrasound: utilizes sound waves to stimulate fibroblast activity, improve blood flow,
increase protein synthesis, increase tissue extensibility, and aid in soft tissue and bone healing. It is
commonly used for tendinitis, tendinopathies, muscles spasms, and non-healing fractures.
Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy: a high energy, focused pressure wave that delivers energy to a
specific focal point and causes cells to release proteins, decrease inflammation and increase blood flow.
It is used to treat arthritis, tendinopathies, chronic non-healing wounds, and non-healing fractures.
Underwater Treadmill: allows muscle strengthening with reduced impact on the joints and helps with
muscle re-training and proprioception. The buoyancy of the water decreases stress on the joints. The
hydrostatic pressure of the water reduces edema. The viscosity and surface tension of the water improve
strengthening and proprioception.
Land Treadmill (no water): allows for controlled exercise and increased weight bearing on specific limbs
(incline for pelvic limbs and decline for thoracic limbs).
Therapeutic Exercises: specific exercises to improve weight bearing, build muscle mass, and improve
functional abilities. Exercises are customized to the pet’s individual needs and abilities.
Manual Therapy: includes massage, range of motion, and joint mobilization. Massage improves local
blood flow in the soft tissues and decreases muscle spasms. Range of motion of the joints improves
joint integrity, decreases pain and lubricates joints. Joint mobilization is the gliding of joints in their
cranial, caudal, medial and lateral directions to improve joint integrity, joint mobility, and joint
lubrication. Manual therapy is performed on all rehab patients at the beginning of their treatment
session in order to loosen the muscle and joints.
Acupuncture: insertion of thin, sterile needles into specific points to create physiological effects. It
stimulates both peripheral and central nervous systems and releases β-endorphins, dynorphins,
enkephalins, serotonin, epinephrine, GABA, and cortisol that can contribute to pain relief, and various
other mediators and hormones to treat seizures, anxiety and organ dysfunction.
Herbal Medicine: use of herbs (oral administration) for their medicinal properties to treat a variety of
conditions. Most commonly used for osteoarthritis, tendon/ligament injuries, neurologic conditions
causing weakness/paralysis of the limbs, seizures, skin allergies/pruritis, anxiety, anemia, and other
organ dysfunction.