The beautiful boy Obi, with his summer hairdo allowing perfect demonstration of how beneficial teaching a bow can be for spinal range of motion.
He has had a tendency towards getting a bit flexed or roached (like a bridge) through the back of the ribcage and into his lower back. This came a out partly due to his conformation, but also made worse by a momentary poor life choice ending in a mingle with a car 🙈 He has made fantastic progress from where we started with him chronically offloading his right hind leg, and now we are at the point of fine tuning his daily movement patterns so he can go forth and enjoy making further possibly questionable life choices… as is a young dogs right 😂
The bow is magnificent for working on thoracolumbar extension, as well as scapulothoracic range of motion and strength - anyone who has done yoga routines with a lot of downward dog will know how much upper body flexibility and strength can be required.
This can also be turned into a balanced loaded squat by asking for a sphynx position drop from the bow position. The key is to pay the ones where the feet are still and evenly placed. If your dog struggles to keep the feet still or consistently moves a particular foot or slumps into a particular hip, you know they have a weakness. Often getting one good rep and paying handsomely will get them progressing in building the strength, however if the asymmetry persists it’s worth a visit to your trusted biomechanical person of choice to see what’s happening to prevent the development of symmetry.
Give it a go, and let me know in comments how your beasties go!
When you’re trying to get a video of the doglet who wasn’t walking 3.5 weeks ago due to a suspected Fibrocartlaginous Embolism (spinal stroke) and now is walking so well it’s hard to slow her down 😅
From complete knuckling in both forefeet and only faint deep reflexes, to strutting around the room like she owns the place!
Well done little lady, and your Mum and Dad for the work you’ve done in the past three weeks ❤️ This is the sort of stuff that brings me so much joy in my work!
Off switch located!
When you’ve been living the first 6 months of your life at warp speed, have recently developed motions sickness, a little bit of tonsil swelling and aren’t enjoying chewing as much as you once did… you might have some dysfunction around the neck and cranial base like little Tommi has!
I think people often wonder when I start asking really specific questions, but when the pieces start to come together it all begins to make sense.
Today’s visit was intended to be mainly a check over due to aforementioned activity levels, but the mention of recent motionsickness which came on suddenly, and has been followed by other subtle signs like a infrequent mild tracheal sounding cough and a progressive selectivity around food and chewing, examining the upper neck, cranial base, hyoid and jaw became a no brainer. A lot of congestion and restriction was found through the area along with tension down into the shoulder blade and front of the ribcage. This latter region is known for having a large degree of influence over lymphatic drainage from the neck and head, so combine with the dysfunction in the upper neck and head it’s a very likely reason for congestion in the tissues (tonsils being one), vestibular imbalances (motion sickness being a common symptom) and discomfort with eating.
I can’t wait to see how Tommi is doing next week, fingers crossed everything, especially the motion sickness, has improved!
Little Macy had surgery just 6 weeks ago for a herniated intervertebral disc and epidural haemorrhage. For her, this started two days prior with her being a bit off colour, moving very gingerly and being off her food and water. Within the next 24 hours she progressed to losing sensation and voluntary mobility in her hind end, as well as was suffering urinary and fecal incontinence. In these cases advanced imaging and surgery ASAP is crucial, and the team at ARH did their usual amazing work the morning after she collapsed.
Within the ABM community we frequently send animals each other’s way if it will make the rehab journey easier for the client due to travel time or specialised skills another practitioner has, and Rhys from @animalrehabklinik sent Macy and her pet-parents my way being more local to them.
The early days of rehab after spinal surgery are hard going, sometimes it’s hard to see the light when suddenly trying to figure out how to best help a dog who wants to getup and go but has no control of their back end. Nervous tissue is notoriously slow to recover compared to other tissues within the body, so much reassurance is a big part of my role in those early weeks. The payoff comes when we hit that wonderful day that we see the dog being able to walk again, under their own steam. This video was taken last week, on the day that Macy first got up and walked. We still have a long way to go, but between a solidly constructed home management and rehab plan, hydrotherapy @k9_swim and the power of time, we can expect Macy to make a very very close to full return to her previous activity levels 🎉
When your rehab is going really well and, despite your best Jack Russell efforts to dodge your exercises, you end up doing a one legged stand on an unstable surface and absolutely nailing it!
Oscar had residual lameness after his cruciate surgery on his left hind leg, and was not making the usual progress expected for the stage of recovery. This is his third treatment, and having resolved a few biomechanical ‘sticky points’ that were preventing full use of the leg, and started him on a 6 week hydrotherapy programme with K9 Swim - Hydrotherapy Centre For Dogs - NSW, he is absolutely flying along just one month after coming in hopping on three legs.
Rehab post surgery is ideally started immediately, however Oscar is a great example of how much change can still be gained if that rehab is delayed for any reason ❤️
Thursday’s are family day, which today means playing with the pooch and some of the obstacles we have to use for building some basic strength, coordination and proprioception. Being a high energy teenager, Winta has had a few bouts of uneven movement thanks to her affinity for bouncing around on her hind legs, doing the zoomies with high speed stops and turns and supervising the miniature pony’s morning turnout time by galloping up and down the fence line 🙄, so it’s long overdue that this Osteopath’s dog finally gets some biomechanical attention 🙈
This simple little thrown together circuit challenges her to learn to think about where she’s placing her feet as she steps on and off the step, keep her body straight as she does her changes of position, gives good proprioceptive input as well as hind limb power as she crawls across the textured mats and a nice hip flexor/abdominal opening as she reaches high for the final stretch. This was about the 7th take, as they say, working with kids or animals is madness, so having kids “helping” meant some extra reps for this poor pooch!
It’s really easy to build a little routine like this to help your dog build some extra strength, coordination and flexibility without a significant amount of high tech equipment. Have a look around and see what games you can find for your dogs!
Daschund vs Theraband. What better way to get those hip extensors and abductors strong again after spinal surgery than some resistance band work?! Jasper had surgery in March for IVDD and has come such a long way with #animalbiomechanicalmedicine and #caninehydrotherapy @k9_swim. Now we are really putting him to work each and every day with his Theraband exercises! Little dogs who wear jackets with D-rings really make such great patients! #caninerehab #caninerehabilitation #centaurusosteopathy #daschundsofinstagram #turnslikeaship 😂❤️
Black nails on black dog aren’t the easiest to demonstrate with, but one works with the family they have 🙈 Distractions help. #doggynailcare #stressfreenailcare
#stressfreenailcare begins with the right tools. 1 - a dog who will let you handle their paws without assuming something hideously painful is about to happen to them. Think about it - how often do you spend time just playing with their toes without having an alterior motive to trim their nails? Teaching your dog that it’s ok to have their toes and nails handled, and even that having their nails fiddled with results in the production of yummy treats is prerequisite number 1! 2 - A pair of really good nail clippers that won’t pinch or splinter the nail. I use Millers Forge red nail clippers and honestly they’re life changing. They are able to take off the thinnest slivers of nail and go through the nail like it is butter. This seems to make such a huge difference to the whole experience that within a nail or two the dogs realise it’s actually a totally different experience. Ultimately I think it’s the fact they are light and consistently sharp that makes the difference. You’ll also need them to be the plier style to achieve the cuts needed to be sure you’ll avoid the quick.
When owners send me videos like this it just makes my heart sing. This is Tara. I’ve known Tara since I was about 12. Shes now 34 and 3/4! Her mum asked me to come and see what we could do as she wasn’t doing well at all with the colder nights and had been struggling more and more with getting up and moving around. She had some Osteo, some laser and a little taping today and this video shows just how helpful Osteopathy can be for the oldies, less is usually more and their systems shout a huge hooray for even the littlest bit more freedom and relief from the pains and stiffnesses of old age. Seeing her canter down the lane way to check if her dinner is ready is just the most rewarding thing ❤️
“How to cheat at your exercises 101”. The key to any positive progress in rehab is breaking the movement down to the components that can actually be done correctly. For Loki’s mum this will involve getting right down on the floor and slowing the walk down to one single step at a time. Then Loki will step over the cavaletti without bouncing. Most times. #animalbiomechanicalmedicine #canineosteopathy #caninerehab #centaurusosteopathy #daschundsofinstagram #legge-calves-perthes
April seems to be daschund month! Loki demonstrating how good he feels after his first session. He was diagnosed with Legg Calves Perthes and we are hoping Osteo along with his regular UWT sessions @k9_swim will help bring his hind leg strength along! #animalbiomechanicalmedicine #canineosteopathy #caninerehabilitation #daschundsofinstagram
Osteopathy and Equine Rehabilitation for horse, rider, dogs and all the family. Serving the Hills Di
