Anwell Veterinary Rehab

AnWell Case Studies Lacey

Lacey, a 7-1⁄2 year old female Shiba Inu owned by Mary Long, was presented to Anwell Veterinary Rehab & Conditioning Center in February 2004. Dr. Carlos Hodges of Valley Central Veterinary Referral was the referring physician. Lacey had experienced an acute spinal injury during a routine ball playing adventure at home. Dr Hodges performed surgery on her thoraco-lumbar spine to remove intervertebral disc material which caused Lacey both pain and decreased neurologic function. Because Lacey was somewhat averse to water, Mrs. Long at first was reluctant to try water therapy, assuming she would not respond well to treatment.

Lacey’s first visit to AnWell was about three months post-op. At that stage of her recovery, she was still unable to walk on her own and showed visible neurological deficits in her rear limbs due to her injury. Our treatment goal, as well as Mrs. Long’s, was to return Lacey to her normal playful, independent self at home with her family.

Our initial plan of treatment included Electrical Stimulation (e-stim) to her thigh and back areas, which encouraged manual muscle contractions in the areas affected by her neurological injury. Most importantly, we incorporated water therapy in order to both give Lacey the support and buoyancy necessary for her to walk on her own and yet provide sufficient resistance to allow her muscles to strengthen. Lacey took her first steps on her own in the water that very first session! She had no reservations at all in the water and proceeded like a real trooper throughout her entire recovery!

After her first month of bi-weekly visits we incorporated both balance work and a land treadmill, discontinuing the e-stim since she was now able to make full use of both her back and thigh muscles unaided. By April, we had seen so much progression of balance, strength and over-all confidence that we decreased her visit frequency to once a week, then by summer’s end, every other week. More importantly, Lacey’s homework sessions with Mrs. Long became the cornerstone in her recovery. Lacey and Mrs. Long stopped their visits approximately one year post-op with a 90% recovery and continued improvement every day!

Both Lacey’s courage and hard work, in conjunction with Mrs. Long’s extraordinary love and dedication have been our reward. We approach every patient as a unique individual in terms of expectations and recovery, but we see a uniform dedication in all our clients’ efforts to help their pets return back to as much comfort and mobility as allowable.

Lacey’s case demonstrates the benefits of physical rehabilitation after neurologic injury. Initially, modalities are aimed at keeping muscles and joints as healthy as possible. Then, as the neurologic injury heals, the focus is shifted to re-education to allow normal day-to-day activity.