Does it seem peculiar to you that a Decatur veterinarian is writing about arthritis? Well, let me explain. I believe that many people don’t know that arthritis isn’t limited to humans. Sadly, it’s true. Many animals can suffer from painful arthritis, too, including your dog or cat. And, arthritis is just as painful for pets as it is for humans, especially for certain pets, like dogs, who tend to do what “their” humans do. Arthritis in humans can make simple activities, like taking a walk and climbing stairs extremely painful. Because dogs frequently accompany their owners, dogs can experience the same kind of pain and debilitating problems doing the activities that their owners do.
Just going for a walk, let alone catching a frisbee or running in the ocean waves, can be very difficult and prohibitively painful for a dog with arthritis. In other words, arthritis can take the fun out of doing what dogs do best…have fun! As a attentive veterinarian in Decatur I am relieved to tell you that treatment for canine arthritis is not entirely confined to the use of painkilling drugs. Just as humans suffering from arthritis often benefit from physiotherapy that helps to improve joint motion, dogs can, too. Physiotherapy, in humans, helps to decrease arthritic inflammation and increase function of the affected joints and limbs. You may be wondering how physiotherapy affects canine joints and limbs, as well as what exercises are most effective.
Although physiotherapy for dogs isn’t new, until recently there hasn’t been adequate research done to satisfactorily document its effects on canine arthritis. However, a recent study by researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, and published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research, confirmed the efficacy of physiotherapy in relieving arthritic inflammation and immobility in dogs.
The researchers used a specially-designed treadmill and delicate computer algorithms to examine the movements of the joints in the front and back legs of dogs while the dogs performed three different types of exercises: walking uphill, walking downhill and walking over low obstacles.
The experiments showed that the three exercises had express and particular effects on the motion of the dogs’ joints. Walking uphill caused significantly greater bending at the hip, as opposed to walking downhill, which caused the hip to be less bent and the tarsal joint to be less extended. But, the most consequential effects came when the dogs walked over low obstacles. This resulted in additional bending of all joints except the hip and shoulder, and greater extensions of the carpal and stifle joints.
You may be wondering, at this point, what all of of this means for your dog? First of all, it indicates that walking uphill is an easy exercise that could be used to improve your dog’s joint flexibility, especially at the hip joint, and that adding low obstacles could aid in improving the bending of the joints in the forelimbs and hind limbs. Adding low obtacles should be avoided, however, if your dog has recently undergone surgery for the tibia, because such activity could result in increased bending of the joints and potentially strain the tendon that joins the knee to the shin.
And, as a dog loving Decatur veterinarian, I would like to make one final suggestion for “man’s best friend,” since walking downhill wasn’t shown to be effective anyway, perhaps a nice ride downhill in the car would be a nice treat for your dog once you’ve exercised him or her uphill!
