What is Gait Analysis and why does it matter?
What is Gait Analysis and why does it matter? Gait is the pattern of how the body moves when walking, trotting, or running. By analyzing a patient's gait, we can learn valuable information about their musculoskeletal and neurological status as well as identify potential sources of pain. Rehab can help remedy the problems that lead to gait deficits, therefore helping the body return to normal function (or as close as possible) and reducing incidence of compensatory injury.
What Makes Hydrotherapy Special?
What makes Hydrotherapy special? Controlled exercise using an Underwater Treadmill provides buoyancy, resistance, hydrostatic pressure, and thermotherapy. Buoyancy helps reduce the amount of weight the body must support when standing or walking. Resistance builds muscle and increases stamina. Hydrostatic pressure helps to decrease inflammation and pain. Exercising in temperature controlled water helps increase blood flow and reduce inflammation. While certainly the flashiest Rehab Treatment, it's just one of many clinically proven modalities we use to treat our patients!
Soft Surface Walking
How is walking over dog beds helpful? It doesn't look that hard. Looks can be deceiving CROC friends! Each bed is a different thickness and density and some of the covers hold extra pockets of air in them. Patients can't anticipate what the surface will be like, so their body has to quickly respond to keep their balance. This helps encourage use of all limbs and build muscle to help keep them stable on their paws!
Exercising in Summer
During the summer months, Rehab is an excellent way for your dog to safely exercise while avoiding the heat. Our entire facility is temperature controlled, including the water in the Underwater Treadmills!
Kiwi's Salute
Kiwi starts out a bit distracted and more interested in what the other patients are doing but then she decides that her performance has ended and does her version of a gymnast's salute!
Work Hard & Play Hard Too!
Effective therapy requires some level of cooperation from our patients, but it's even better when they are excited and ready to play with the CROC Team! In this video, we've asked Charlie to walk through the tunnel in order to target specific muscles as he adjusts to the confined space. Does he do it perfectly? Not quite, but he's more than happy to participate and runs to snuggle up to the technician on each end. We get some therapeutic exercises in while making the experience enjoyable for everyone involved!
Miss Molly's Progress
Miss Molly came to us unable to walk and now she's not only walking, but continuing to improve her strength, stamina, and coordination every day! We're so proud of her progress!
Dude's Massage Therapy
Therapeutic massage helps loosen up tight muscles and decrease pain, but it's also one of the best ways to bond with our patients! Sitting with them, calmly talking to them, and massaging their sore spots teaches them that they are safe with us. They begin to look forward to our one on one time because they know that we'll help them feel better!
Your dog could be as pampered as this Princess!
Therapeutic massage is an excellent tool to loosen up tight muscles before exercise and to soothe tired muscles after exercise.
Please try this strange exercise?
We ask our patients to perform some strange exercises and their trust in us is how we can accomplish so much. They let us touch them where they hurt, put some weird wand device on their bodies, and take the leap to try whatever exercise we ask of them including walking into a giant transparent box that fills with warm water or hopping up onto some huge squishy thing. We could never attain the same success without the relationships we build with our patients!
The problem with 2 UWTM's...
Having 2 Underwater Treadmills is amazing because it helps us treat double the patients, but the downside is that many patients are so interested in what's going on next door that they forget what they're supposed to be doing and have to catch up! 😂
Corgi + Massage = <3
Some dogs are reeeaaaallllllyyyy big fans of Therapeutic Massage. Corey is some dogs!
Go Go Go Gizmo
When a patient experiences significant loss of function, moments like this are SO rewarding. Gizmo is so confident in his ability to traverse several uneven surfaces that challenge his balance and coordination that he starts running ahead! Not only that, but in most of this clip he is receiving little to no support!
World Veterinary Day - A moment to recognize your pet's medical professionals
World Veterinary Day is such a short moment to celebrate the magical professionals who bring healing and comfort to those who cannot speak for themselves as well as the endless patience and compassion for their humans. The CROC team represents decades of Veterinary Medical experience and a drive to help as many patients as they can. They are kind, loving souls who give everything they have to our patients because seeing them feel better fills them with pride.
Small acts of appreciation from clients mean all the world to our team. Their work is what makes the incredible recoveries we've shared possible. They are the reason our 14-year-old arthritic patient has gained an extra 2 years with their family or that a young pup who was paralyzed and went through back surgery can now walk again. They give the priceless gift of quality time with your best friend.
So, take a sec to thank the Receptionists, Veterinary Assistants, Registered Veterinary Technicians, and Veterinarians who have dedicated their lives to caring for your pets and enjoy this video highlighting everything that the CROC Team does to heal, hug, help 💙🐾
Rohan's Hydrotherapy
Sweet old man, Rohan, is 13 years old and looking excellent in the Underwater
Treadmill! He's a no fuss kinda guy. Meanwhile in the background, our other Underwater Treadmill is getting one of its frequent deep cleanings to ensure it is kept sanitary for all patients. Being able to keep the treadmills so clean is yet another way that they are superior to a pool for Hydrotherapy.
Sidoh's Hydrotherapy
Returning patient, Sidoh, knows the drill when it comes to Hydrotherapy so he spends most of the time in the Underwater Treadmill just checking everyone else out and seeing what their up to 🧐
Koko Stands!!!
It wasn't too long ago that we were applauding Koko for relearning to sit up unassisted... look at her now!!!! Some pats on the belly trick her into thinking there's something underneath her and she's standing almost entirely unassisted!! She's even self-correcting when she starts to lose her balance. Now we're working on her stamina to keep her up for longer and longer periods of time and of course, we're always there to catch her when she's tired 💙🐾
Dexter & Amanda
Dexter and Amanda work together to improve his core strength and balance. He's always a good sport about his exercises and very sweetly expresses when he's tired and needs a break!
Marla's Target Exercises
Since every bed is a different thickness and material, they all feel different under Marla's paws and she has to adjust her balance over each one. Moving through the cones accomplishes a similar goal. As she turns around each cone, she continually shifts her weight between all four legs.
Go Tanner!
When Tanner began therapy at CROC, he was unable to walk. Look at him now!! This is why we do what we do!!!!
