Services
The Appointment
Sessions will commence with a discussion of a patient’s clinical history. This includes information about your animals current injury/condition (if applicable), home environment, behaviour and exercise level/intensity - the more information the better! A full patient assessment will then follow; thorough assessment forms the foundation of an effective treatment program. This includes dynamic, static, palpative, range of motion and neurological evaluations, details of these are outlined below.
By combining this information with veterinary history provided upon referral and assessment findings (see below) we can devise a treatment plan and therapeutic aims bespoke to each patients individual needs.
In accordance with the Veterinary Surgeons (Exemptions) Order 2015, we require Veterinary consent before any physiotherapy treatment can take place. We can request and obtain this form from your veterinarian on your behalf before your appointment. Once we have obtained veterinary consent, we are good to go!
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Here we are assessing how your animal stands. This includes looking into their conformation, posture & balance. This helps to establish areas of strength, possible weakness & asymmetry.
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Dynamic assessment focus on how your animal moves in walk & trot. In horses, a lunge &/or ridden assessment may be appropriate. Here we will look out for any gait abnormalities, lameness, restriction or asymmetry to help identify areas of pain & weakness.
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A thorough palpation helps identify areas of tissue dysfunction such as tension, spasm, hypertonicity, heat & swelling. Often, these dysfunctions alter how an animal moves.
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We perform a neurological assessment as standard during all our assessments. However, patients with known neurological deficits, or those following neurological crisis such as IVDD often require a more detailed assessment. Here we are assessing sensation, co-ordination, balance & proprioception.
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Here we are assessing the amount of movement each joint is capable of producing; this might be lax or restricted in comparison to the normal range. We are also feeling for any abnormalities within a joint such as heat, swelling, clicking or crunching that might be impacting joint motion.
The Treatment
Electrophysical Agents
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Here at PhysioVet we use an Omega 3b laser. Laser can be either photo-stimulatory or photo-inhibitory depending on what we are targeting. Inhibitory doses help block soft tissue pain & act as an anti-inflammatory to aid with the management of conditions such as osteoarthritis. Meanwhile, stimulatory doses up-regulate cells necessary for the healing of soft tissue damage & wounds.
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Different settings applied to relieve acute & chronic pain, increase or decrease blood flow, provide nerve stimulation & aid with tissue/fracture healing.
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Stimulates motor points within muscles to generate a muscle pump. Commonly used in weaker patients to induce muscle contraction and prevent muscle wastage. NMES can also be used alongside a conditioning exercise program to facilitate muscle build. By generating a muscle pump, NMES increases blood flow & aids lymphatic drainage.
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Alike NMES, TENS tunes into a muscles motor unit to provide neural stimulation. TENS utilises this ability to facilitate relaxation & relieve pain.
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Heat increases blood flow. This helps with the delivery of oxygen & nutrients whilst removing waste products from the area to optimise cellular health & encourage tissue healing. Heat also decreases pain & spasm whilst increasing tissue extensibility.
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The application of cold is commonly used during the acute stages of tissue damage. This helps to reduce inflammation & pain.
Manual Therapies
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A therapist’s hands are an invaluable tool. Different techniques are used to increase blood flow, relieve pain and spasm, increase soft tissue extensibility, and promote healing. And of course, many animals find massage incredibly relaxing!
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Fasica is a 3D network of connective tissue, attaching to all muscles, bones and organs and plays a vital role in cellular communication. Following injury or illness, fascia often becomes dehydrated, causing pain, tissue dysfunction and restriction. Myofascial Release is a specialist form of massage aiming to resolve these issues.
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Stretching helps to improve movement by relieving tension and spasm. Stretching also initiates a neural response and can utilised to optimise muscular function.
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Passive range of motion (PROM) is a very simple exercise whereby a therapist manually flexes and extends a joint. This helps to relieve/prevent restrictions and optimises joint health by facilitating the production and movement of synovial fluid within the joint.
Remedial Exercises
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Rehabilitative exercises are designed to optimise ‘return to function’. This means we are implementing exercises that support healing and recovery processes. Our aim with rehabilitative exercise programmes is to enable each animal to happily and comfortably return to pre-injury levels of activity.
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Prehabilitation and Maintenance exercise programmes aim to prevent injury by increasing an animal’s exercise capacity specific to their activity level or sporting discipline and reduce the time to the onset of fatigue. Furthermore, conditioning exercises aim to optimise overall performance by maximising skill, strength, speed and stamina.
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Gentle exercise helps prevent potential injury or deterioration in condition in palliative and conservative cases. Gentle exercise is essential for the management of long-term conditions and can ease mobility of joint and soft tissue structures, maintain proprioception, coordination and balance, and optimise mental wellbeing.
After Treatment
We usually advise a short period of rest (1-2 days). This allows time for tissue to respond to treatment producing maximal benefit. After this, the homework begins! We supply a home program bespoke to each patient. This includes exercises and treatments designed to optimise improvements.
Pricing
Equine
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1.5 - 2 hour appointment
Discussion of clinical history
Full initial assessment
Physiotherapeutic treatment
Home exercise & treatment plan
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1 - 1.5 hour appointment
Review of clinical history
Assessment
Physiotherapeutic treatment
Updated home exercise & treatment plan
Vet reports are updated at least every 10 sessions
Canine & Small Animal
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1 - 1.5 hour appointment
Disucssion of clinical history
Full initial assessment
Physiotherapeutic treatment
Home exercise & treatment plan
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1 hour appointment
Review of clinical history
Assessment
Physiotherapeutic treatment
Updated home exercise & treatment plan
Vet reports are updated at least every 10 sessions
*Discounts apply to multiple animals treated at the same address, this will be discussed at time of booking
Where?
PhysioVet offers a mobile service across East Anglia; treating animals at their home. We are based in Kings Lynn, Norfolk. To reflect the rising cost of inflation and travel expenses, an additional 50p per mile is applied to appointments outside a 15 miles of King’s Lynn. This will be discussed at time of booking.
NEW TO 2024
NEW TO 2024
Virtual Canine Assessment
Recently, I have had an influx of enquires who unfortunately are outside my treatment area of East Anglia. Whilst I cannot offer physiotherapeutic treatment for these animals I am now offering a new service of a virtual assessment.
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We don’t speak the same language as our pets, therefore the only way we can interpret when something is wrong is through their body language, posture, movement & behaviour. Recent research has attributed 80% of random/undesired behaviours to pain.
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Dogs who aren’t quite right, whether you have noticed a change in their behaviour, odd behaviours, avoidance behaviours, gait or postural abnormalities.
A virtual assessment looks at your dogs movement, conformation , behaviour & lifestyle to highlight potential areas of concern. This service has been designed to help the multi-disciplinary Veterinary team in narrowing down & pinpointing what could be wrong with your dog, resulting in more efficient/effective diagnosis.
If your dog already has a diagnosed condition, is receiving treatment &/or pain relief, a virtual assessment probably isn’t for you.
The Process
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We start with a phone consultation where we will discuss aspects of your dogs routine, lifestyle & behaviour.
This is approx 30 minutes - 1 hour
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Over to you! We ask you to take the relevant photographic & video footage of your dog for me to assess. Don’t worry, you will be provided with a ‘How to Guide’ on how to do this which will also be discussed in the initial phone consultation.
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I will analyse all the aquired data, from this writing an approx 2 page report alongside photograph & video annotation.
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The report will be sent to you. We will then have a final phone call to discuss this & next steps.
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All virtual assessments are £60, & can be completed for any dog anywhere in the UK.
