A Full-Service Rehabilitation Center for Animals
THERAPIES: Manual Therapy Techniques
We use a variety of manual therapy techniques to help your pet get the most out of her rehabilitation sessions at Scout's House, including:
Massage Therapy
More than just a "feel good" luxury, massage therapy provides scientifically documented recuperative benefits for a number of physical dysfunctions, including arthritis, hip and elbow dysplasia, spondylosis, and post-surgical recovery. By increasing circulation, massage can remove metabolic waste from your pet's system and increase nutrition delivery to the tissue to speed healing. It can also reduce pain by eliminating muscle spasms, improve joint range of motion, and boost the immune system.
Although all of our staff members are skilled at massage, Cindy Daniels is by far the most experienced. A graduate of The Lang Institute for Canine Massage, Cindy has completed extensive training in canine massage and has more than 500 hours of hands-on massage therapy to her credit. As our in-house Massage Therapist, Cindy performs all extended massage therapy at Scout's House. She's also available, by appointment only, to come to your home to provide massage therapy for your rehabilitating pet.
Joint Mobilizations
Joint mobilization is a highly specialized activity that is only performed by our Physical Rehabilitation Therapist, Krista Niebaum, who learned the skill during her training to become a licensed physical therapist. For pets with stiff joints, Krista loosens the surrounding tissues that restrict the joints by carefully and repeatedly moving the two congruent surfaces of the joint itself. Done correctly, joint mobilizations can increase range of motion, improve proprioceptive input to the neurological system, and reduce pain.
Range of Motion Exercises
By design, a joint should move through a variety of angles and motions. But in rehabilitating pets, joints are often restricted in their ability to move, causing decreased range of motion (ROM) and limited functionality. At Scout's House, we'll help your pet regain his ROM by manually moving his joints to a comfortable end range, or by coaxing him through a series of activities specially designed to get him to actively increase his ROM.
Scar-Tissue Remodeling
Physical rehabilitation therapy is often about finding ways to help a pet move better. With scar-tissue remodeling, we gently massage and stretch newly formed scar tissue, helping to model it into a more mobile configuration that allows freer movement.
Cryotherapy and Heat Therapy
Fancy terms for ice and heat, but that shouldn't diminish the important role these two superficial thermal modalities can play in the rehabilitation process.
Cryotherapy-or the application of cold or ice to an injured area-can help relieve pain, reduce muscle spasms and swelling, and control bleeding, particularly right after injury or surgery. Care must be taken, of course, to ensure that an appropriate method of cryotherapy is used and for the right amount of time, eliminating the possibility of tissue damage.
For heat therapy, we use moist heat (which has better penetration than dry heat) to help relax muscles, improve blood flow, and increase flexibility and ROM of a particular joint by decreasing joint stiffness. Heat is normally applied later in the healing process, and the pet must be carefully monitored to avoid burning the skin.