I have often documented my dog’s rehab following knee surgery for a ruptured cruciate ligament (ACL). They also removed his meniscus which allows for the cushioning in the knee. When people speak to me about knees I often say the most experience I have is with dogs. But it’s a good place to start.
Arthur post surgery not looking too happy…
After all dogs can’t speak so they show us what they can and can’t do without all the mental stuff brought into injury. He has an ego to want to play and do too much but this soon displays itself as lameness. If he’s tired he goes to sleep, if he’s in pain he limps or makes some excruciating noises.
I videoed all his swim sessions to monitor his progress – going from minutes on an underwater treadmill IMG_0477 to 30 minutes doing lengths in a swimming pool IMG_0482. People probably wondered why this had any impact on how I approached human rehab.
So what did I learn?
– I learnt the need to build up slowly but surely and document this to know how much success there had been.
– I learnt the importance of REST in order to promote healing.
– I learnt that using water therapy in an AQUA environment is the most supportive of elements to rehab in.
– I learnt that he may never go back to ‘normal’ due to muscle wastage through atrophy, but as many times as people ask to will him back he will be the best he can be with what he’s got.
– I learnt that dogs often reflect their owners and although he may always have a niggle or something going on he is fit & healthy so recovers quicker than his counterparts.
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