23/04/2024
🔍What is Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is the most common cause of chronic pain in dogs. Although typically thought of as a geriatric condition, it is also commonly seen in younger dogs as a result of developmental joint issues such as hip or elbow dysplasia. Osteoarthritis causes chronic pain, however slips and falls can cause acute flare ups of the condition.
🐾🐶What causes osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is caused by abnormal forces placed through normal joints, normal forces placed through abnormal joints or a combination of the two. The most prevalent cause of the development of osteoarthritis is developmental joint disease such as elbow dysplasia. These joints don't fit perfectly, resulting in areas of abnormal load.
Another contributing factor towards the development of osteoarthritis is obesity. This results in increased pressure placed through the joints on a daily basis.
Injuries and infections such as cranial cruciate ligament injuries and septic or immune mediated polyarthritis, will also cause damage to the joint, inevitably leading to osteoarthritis.
⚠️Signs of osteoarthritis
Lameness
Changes in posture
Gait changes
Sleeping more
Reduced interest in playing/going for a walk
Increased anxiety
🔧Management of Osteoarthritis
Although osteoarthritis cannot be cured there are ways to prevent and help manage the condition.
Weight management
Reducing high impact exercise/s
Home environment adaptations
💪How can physiotherapy help my pet with osteoarthritis?
Our physiotherapy sessions take a holistic approach to treating your pet. We assess your pets movement, identifying gait and postural abnormalities. There is a thorough muscular and joint assessment to locate areas of weakness, pain and compensation. Just because your pet has only been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in one joint it doesn't mean that they aren't struggling somewhere else in their body. We have multiple modalities that we can employ alongside manual therapy, including, laser and shockwave. Which can be used to, amongst many other things, reduce pain and muscular restrictions
Holistic Vet Care offers vet treatments near you. We offer a range of services including acupuncture, herbs, physiotherapy, shockwave, laser and diet advice.
