Alfie is a 12 year old Labradoodle diagnosed with both hip arthritis and hip dysplasia.
He is a lovely gentle giant who loves walking with his owners. They had noticed that he had lost strength in his back end and was catching toes when stair climbing and knuckling over on his hind limbs when walking.
On assessment I confirmed that these symptoms were presenting, and also noticed that Alfie was not a fan of sitting, preferring to lie down instead. He would pull up from his front end into stand and then stood with less weight through his left hind.
Treating Alfie
I decided that a course of physiotherapy would be appropriate to improve Alfie’s symptoms. I began by teaching his owners a number of exercises.
Latterly I have been working on getting Alfie to have his front paws up on the second step of the stairs to make his back end work harder. This took some time to achieve; he is a big dog and my approach was to gradually introduce physio exercises of increasing intensity like this, over time.
Alfie has also been having laser therapy on his hips and lumbar spine which he lays still for very patiently. He has recovered some muscle bulk and knuckles far less now and is still enjoying hour long walks in the local common with his owners.
I’m pleased for Alfie. His owners and I have seen a real difference in him, and I’m sure he’s a much happier dog now as a result of all of his hard work, (and some of ours too!). Physio takes patience and commitment to make gradual but important improvements, which over time, can make a big difference to your pet. They will feel stronger, suffer less pain, and have stronger muscles to compensate for their joint and bone problems. If your dog is struggling to walk, run or rise from sitting, or is not moving easily, call me for a chat, I’m sure I can help.
