It may seem strange for a Decatur veterinarian to be writing about arthritis, but did you know that arthritis isn’t limited to humans? That’s right! Most animals can develop painful arthritis, as well, including your dog or cat. And, arthritis is just as painful for pets as it is for humans, especially for certain pets, like dogs, who tend to do what “their” humans do. Arthritis in humans can make simple activities, such as going for a walk and climbing stairs intensely painful. Because dogs frequently accompany their owners, dogs can experience the same kind of pain and debilitating problems doing the activities that their owners do.

Simply going for a walk, let alone fetching a tossed ball or running in the ocean waves, can be very difficult and extremely painful for a dog with arthritis. In other words, arthritis can take the fun out of your dog’s “purpose” in life…to have fun! As a concerned veterinarian in Decatur I am pleased to tell you that treatment for canine arthritis is not entirely confined to the use of pain medication. Dogs suffering from arthritis may be able to benefit from the physiotherapy that helps to improve joint mobility, just like humans are. Physiotherapy, in humans, aids in decreasing arthritic pain and increase function of the affected joints and limbs. You may be wondering how physiotherapy affects canine joints and limbs, as well as what therapy is most effective.

Even though physiotherapy for dogs has been around for a while now, until recently there hasn’t been much research done to competently document its effects on canine arthritis. But, a new study by researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, and published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research, verified the efficacy of physiotherapy in decreasing arthritic inflammation and immobility in dogs.

The researchers analyzed the movements of the joints in the front and back legs of dogs through the use of a expressly-designed treadmill and sophisticated computer algorithms. While the researchers took notes and measurements, the dogs performed three types of exercises: walking uphill, walking downhill, and walking over low obstacles.

The experiments showed that the three exercises had distinct and explicit effects on the motion of the dogs’ joints. While walking downhill did not appear to have much therapeutic benefit because it caused the hip to be less bent and the tarsal joint to be less extended, walking uphill caused significantly greater bending at the hip, while the stifle joint (the dog’s knee) was less extended. There were also decreases in the accelerations at the carpal and elbow joints. But, the most consequential effects came when the dogs walked over low obstacles. This resulted in additional bending of all joints except the hip and shoulder, and greater extensions of the carpal and stifle joints.

What does all of this mean for your dog? First of all, it indicates that walking uphill is an easy exercise that you could provide to help to improve your dog’s joint flexibility, especially at the hip joint, and that providing low obstacles could aid in improving the bending of the joints in the forelimbs and hind limbs. It is important to mention, though, that adding low obstacles should be avoided if your dog has recently had surgery for the tibia, as such activity could result in increased bending of the joints and potentially strain the tendon that joins the knee to the shin.

And, as a Decatur veterinarian who loves dogs, I would add one final suggestion for “man’s best friend,” since the study indicated that walking downhill wasn’t  shown to be effective anyway, after you’ve exercised your dog uphill, perhaps a ride in the car back down the hill would be a nice treat!

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