Hannah at Bounce Back Physiotherapy

20/07/2025

Excellent work Fitzpatrick Referrals!

18/06/2025

Practice what you preach ...movement and exercise with the correctly adjusted parameters (frequency, intensity, time, type, volume and progression) is just as important for our animals as it is for us 😁 happy movement ❤️

It’s not just our animal friends who start the day with a good stretch!

Thank you to Veterinary Care Assistant Liv (who is also a qualified PT) for helping us start the day in the best way! 🙌

10/05/2025

I haven't posted on here for a while as things got a little busy ! But behind the scenes at bounce back physio I've been a busy bee for the past few months. Here is Vicky the miniature dachshund undergoing her final strength and conditioning session to keep her both strong and flexible after her spinal surgery (hemilaminectomy) before I go on mat leave. We have used a range of static and dynamic exercises to create challenge for her musculoskeletal system including poles, wobble cushion, pod work, planking and forelimb lifts to progressively load her soft tissues and joints and build resilience 💪 well-done Vicky and keep up the hard work.

07/10/2024

Great post from the Win Clinic about ball throwing for dogs 🙌

Balls and dogs… 🥎

Recently at a wedding someone was asking me for some advice for their dog after his recent surgery. He had fractured a bone in his forelimb and they said “it happened chasing a ball, if we had known it wasn’t a good thing to do we wouldn’t have done it”.

We hear this so often; everyone we see loves their dog and wants the best for them, but ball throwing and dogs have become synonymous in people’s minds and there is a strong culture for it - it looks so fun, it tires them out quickly and we think it is keeping them fit.

But what is actually happening?

Repeatedly stimulating their prey drive keeps them wired and overstimulated.
Motivated to carry on chasing, they work way past muscle fatigue, and high adrenaline means they won’t be aware of pain at the time.

What is chasing?

Fast uncontrolled acceleration and deceleration; twisting and turning without thinking about their bodies.

What happens to humans who do this in sport in a much more controlled way?

ACL injuries, Achilles ruptures, fractures… no surprise then that this is similar to what we see in our canine clinic.
Help us to help your dogs and spread the word.

We will be following this up with some ideas of fun ball related activities for your dog which aren’t repetitive chasing 🙌

08/09/2024

Happy world physiotherapy day 🤩🤩 what a nice post from Fitzpatrick Referrals , happy to be featured ! I remember it was a very cold day but I think our patient appreciated being taken outside for therapy ☺️. Being both human and animal trained puts us in a unique position. Utilising all we have learned from working in the NHS to help our animal friends. What you don't see is the clinical reasoning that underpins our decision making after hours and hours of learning and clinical placements. Physiotherapy isn't just a collection of techniques it is a profession 🤩

Did you know we have an in-house team of experienced Chartered Physiotherapists at Fitzpatrick Referrals?

Our busy team of physiotherapists work closely with every patient’s clinician to provide gold-standard rehabilitation for their aftercare – from carrying out post-op assessments and physiotherapy treatments to providing an ongoing plan for patients at discharge.

All our physios are ACPAT (Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Animal Therapy) registered – ACPAT leads the field in the development of high-quality, innovative physiotherapeutic intervention in the treatment of animals and raising the standards of animal physiotherapy.

Today is World Physiotherapy Day so we wish to thank our fabulous team for their hard work and dedication to our animal friends and their profession! 💙 🐾

ACPAT - The Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Animal Therapy

28/08/2024

*****trigger points****

Following on from the taping post what exactly is a trigger point ? According to Alvarez et al 2001 a trigger point is a 'focal, hyperirritable spot located in a taught band of skeletal muscle'. They might be caused by repetitive trauma to the muscle or acute trauma. To you or your pet they might feel like sore areas that when pressed pain radiates elsewhere. So what can be done ? See my next post....☺️
Photo was from when I cycled with a few friends for charity 800 miles across France in 2015 and I was the (unofficial) physio.

20/08/2024

01/08/2024

Great post by Dr. Gillian Tabor - ACPAT Chartered Physiotherapist Backwards steps can help to lift the back perhaps indicating an activation of core muscles and therefore the action needed to strengthen these muscles in horses I wonder if this is also relevant for our canine friends 🐕🐎

Walking backwards - rein back - step back

This has always been an exercise I recommend and a recent article has used 3D motion capture to explore back and pelvis motion during the movement - Jobst, Zsoldos and Licka, 2024

'A significantly larger maximum and a greater ROM was reached between the withers, thoracic region and sacrum (labelled D-angWmT16S2) in Backwards Walking compared to Forwards walking, indicating a lifting of the back, an effect necessary to facilitate strengthening of the horse’s core and therefore often desired in equine physiotherapy and in equestrian sports (Clayton, 2016; Shakeshaft & Tabor, 2020)'

A few steps backwards - Unmount SD Cardnted - as part of groundwork and before mounting are a really good idea to mobilise your horse's back.

Link to article:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090023324001412?via%3Dihub