Underwater treadmill now available at OCVRF! Aquatic therapy is a great resource for animals needing rehabilitation from injury, surgery, neurological disorders as well as osteoarthritis and weight management or conditioning.
The underwater treadmill can give a dog or cat buoyancy and decrease the stress on their joints while controlling their pace.
The underwater treadmill is also able to provide a high- resistance training for those animals that are looking for a conditioning or weight loss program while still being low-impact on their joints.
Benefits:
- Allows active muscle contraction with minimal weight bearing on joints and bones
- Patients with poor standing balance or weakness can stand without fear of falling
- Patients unable to bear weight on joints in lower extremities can walk
- Patients with weak muscles can move body parts (able to move better in water than on land)
- Muscles can be strengthened
- Extension of the limbs/joints is more complete than with swimming
- Control of how fast the patient moves
- Control of how much weight the patient bears as they are moving (height of water)
- More balanced treatment for patients with multiple issues (multiple joints, muscle atrophy, etc.)
- Less intimidating than swimming for patients who are fearful of water (with our treadmill, water fills slowly from the bottom)
- Gentle and low impact enough for post-surgical patients (2 weeks post op with sutures removed)
Great for:
- Soft tissue injuries
- Osteoarthritis
- Fractures post-operation
- Orthopedic surgeries post-operation
- Muscles spasms, muscle weakness
- Neurological disorders
Using an underwater treadmill can strengthen your dog's confidence.
Pain can impact how your pet feels from day to day. One thing people see as their dogs age is a loss of confidence, partially from their inability to move like they used to. You may see an immediate change in your aging dog's attitude when you incorporate an underwater treadmill into their arthritis treatment, especially if they were a very active dog prior to aging and losing much of their capabilities to move.
Overall, the benefits of underwater therapy could potentially help your family friend and might even lengthen their life. Oxford County Veterinary Rehabilitation and Fitness has an underwater treadmill in order to help our patients lead happy and healthy lives. If you think aquatic therapy may help your dog, we encourage you to ask us about using an underwater treadmill!
What does treatment cost?
Some conditions take more time to treat than others. Your CCRP will determine what’s appropriate for your pet. You can buy single sessions or save on packages of five or ten. The cost reflects the time it takes to input the appropriate protocol, administer therapy, and evaluate progress. But the resulting improvement in comfort and quality of life? Well, that’s priceless.