https://www.pecphysiotherapy.co.uk/blog daily 0.75 2026-01-04 https://www.pecphysiotherapy.co.uk/blog/return-to-play-how-to-safely-rehab-your-horse monthly 0.5 2026-01-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64bee80b504c6e50cdcbcf5a/14d48d58-7ff2-4230-b8f9-efb06713d059/IMG_1280.jpg Blog - Return to Play… how to safely rehab your horse! - USEFUL RESOURCES… 1. Sue Dyson’s Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eve.13468) 2. British Horse Society Horse Fitness (https://www.bhs.org.uk/horse-care-and-welfare/health-care-management/horse-health/horse-fitness/) 3. British Horse Society Implementing a Fitness Programme (https://www.bhs.org.uk/horse-care-and-welfare/health-care-management/horse-health/horse-fitness/implementing-a-fitness-programme/) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64bee80b504c6e50cdcbcf5a/f6bcf60c-91fb-4466-ad51-791e74caed67/IMG_3460.jpeg Blog - Return to Play… how to safely rehab your horse! - Make it stand out | Image Reference: A visual representation of the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (Sue Dyson); Melissa Cho (2023) | https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64bee80b504c6e50cdcbcf5a/47b1b28c-e09f-40ba-a0c2-bb286e1bae90/IMG_1247.jpeg Blog - Return to Play… how to safely rehab your horse! - These can all be completed either ridden or in-hand, depending on what’s safest for your horse. Make sure though to have your vet’s approval before making any changes, increase the level exercise gradually, keep routines consistent and manageable and watch for early signs of pain, such as changes in gait, reluctance to move, or behavioural shifts. It is important with any horse to make a gradual return to activity- make a long term plan with gradual increases in duration and frequency of work. If your horse has a history of health conditions, then make sure that you are extra careful when looking for signs of pain or discomfort during exercise. For the best workout, try to use a combination of: Aerobic exercises to support fat loss Strengthening exercises to build muscle and posture Stable exercises like carrot stretches and tail pulls- and even alternative therapies like water treadmills- can be great additions to your plan. Just make sure to tailor training aids to your individual horse, and always ask a professional for guidance (this is a great opportunity to utilise your veterinary physiotherapist for relevant exercises!). | “Raised Poles” image shows an example of raised poles in a fan position, completed in hand in walk | https://www.pecphysiotherapy.co.uk/blog/the-surgical-vs-conservative-debate-gold-standard-care-for-canine-ivdd monthly 0.5 2025-04-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64bee80b504c6e50cdcbcf5a/408fe5b3-a11e-4fd2-9810-034398df7e73/Picture+1.png Blog - The Surgical VS Conservative Debate… Gold Standard Care for Canine IVDD - | Table: Types of canine IVDD (Granger, 2024) | As with most pathologies, there is often a discussion surrounding the best protocol of care, which can be a challenging decision for clinicians to make when each case is so unique. As a veterinary physiotherapist, I am fortunately not required to make these decisions, but it is still important to have an understanding of what to look out for, when to refer and why a clinician may have come to their conclusion for treatment. Therefore, I will be exploring the gold standard protocol of care for a dog with IVDD within this blog, whilst also asking- what are the different conservative and surgical options, and why and when are each indicated? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64bee80b504c6e50cdcbcf5a/721c7dd0-0f21-4d05-90ab-1e170b658f38/Picture+2.png Blog - The Surgical VS Conservative Debate… Gold Standard Care for Canine IVDD - | Table: Modified Frankel Score (MFS) (Based on the Frankel Score (Frankel, 1969)) | When we consider the recovery rate of dogs post-surgical intervention for IVDD, there is research to suggest that early surgical intervention had a positive impact on post-operative success. Hermansen et al. (2022) studied the outcome of timing of surgery (unfortunately it is not specified what type of surgery was completed) on patient outcome, using the modified frankel score (MFS) as an outcome measure. They interestingly found that prompt surgical intervention positively affects the MFS, with all dogs having an improvement in their score at the 6 month period. These results would indeed then suggest that early surgical intervention does have a positive effect on neurological symptoms in dogs. A similar study by Necas (1999) looked at clinical outcome of hemi-laminectomy approach on 300 dogs- a much better clinical sample size than the study by Hermansen et al. (2022). They found that the results of surgical intervention within 48 hours of diagnosis in grade II dogs was excellent 80% of the time, a result which backs up the findings of both studies. It is important to note that it is not clear within this study what is defined as excellent, as no outcome measure has been reported within this study. https://www.pecphysiotherapy.co.uk/blog/a-question-of-equine-ethicssocial-license-to-operate-in-horse-sport monthly 0.5 2025-04-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64bee80b504c6e50cdcbcf5a/c1720334-5ad3-4407-bd2e-65786493ae39/Picture+1.png Blog - A Question of Equine Ethics…Social License to Operate in Horse Sport - | Diagram to right depicts four pillars of SLO (Duncan et al., 2018) | Duncan et al. (2018) aptly argue that no one has ever seen, smelt or sensed a social license, it is merely an entity which we perceive as permission from the greater good to operate. In my opinion, that is exactly what it is, a social construct, and a very real threat at that. As a species, we operate off of social constructs, and ostracisation is ever present- particularly in a social media era of “cancel culture”. A structure has been created in response, with the four pillars of SLO being trust, credibility, legitimacy and transparency. Duncan et al.(2018) have outlined the process of achieving a social license, with transparency being the key foundation. If we are transparent within the public domain, we will be accepted as a sport. To maintain our social status, we must practice legitimate and credible practices, to build an identity based on trust. To do this, SLO research within horse sport must continue to develop equine safeguarding, with welfare at the forefront. In theory, this should not be hard; as long ago as 335BC, Xenophon wrote the earliest known book about the art of horsemanship. But the world is ever evolving, and we must evolve with it. https://www.pecphysiotherapy.co.uk/blog/a-holistic-approach-the-beauty-of-the-integrated-systems-model monthly 0.5 2024-03-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64bee80b504c6e50cdcbcf5a/71361bbb-0555-4af4-a907-e1eb9c770aa6/ISM+Diagram.png Blog - A Holistic Approach… The Beauty of the Integrated Systems Model - | Image Reference: Learn with Diane Lee (N.D.) | WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SHOW US? Lee (2014) introduces her model of assessment by quoting Butler (2000): “The word ‘division’ can be instant trouble because these mechanisms all occur in a continuum. All pain states probably involve all mechanisms, however in some, a dominance of one mechanism may become obvious.” Butler (2000) postulates that whilst pain or dysfunction may manifest in one area of the body, this may not be the source of pain. This is a good description of ISM, which holds the ethos that the whole body should be assessed using a holistic approach to identify the best course of symptom management. Lee (2014) moves on to state that no two individuals will have the same experience, and that pain and illness manifests according to their identity as a human being. ISM was developed as a constantly evolving framework to help clinicians develop clinical reasoning to facilitate treatment decisions; this can be achieved using the clinical puzzle, which divides story and goals relating to function and performance amongst articular, myofascial, neural and visceral elements (Lee, 2014). Clinicians will recognise a handful of screening tasks to test and retest function; for example, clinicians may choose to assess a squat, sit to stand and sitting posture for patients with pelvic girdle pain aggravated by sitting (Lee, 2014). https://www.pecphysiotherapy.co.uk/blog/a-how-to-guide-becoming-a-veterinary-physiotherapist monthly 0.5 2023-10-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/64bee80b504c6e50cdcbcf5a/0ec4fef2-46da-43d1-b62f-a8c98b561369/3C406422-8D2A-4519-9726-9DE01D00363E.jpeg Blog - A How To Guide … Becoming a Veterinary Physiotherapist - | We were very lucky for the many different opportunities during our degree… for instance, dissecting rider biomechanics using Margaret the mechanical horse! | ACPAT AVENUE Nowadays, in order to become an ACPAT registered Vet Physio (we no longer used the term “Chartered Veterinary Physiotherapist” loosely as Vet Physio is not currently a protected title), a registered Veterinary Physiotherapy Master’s Degree course must be completed. What is ACPAT you ask? Well upon completion of an accredited Physiotherapy degree (either undergraduate or Master’s), Chartered Physiotherapists have the option to register with the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, who host a specialist group known as “ACPAT” (Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Animal Therapy). Now this is the route I am most qualified to talk about, as this is the one I took! As mentioned, at the grand old age of 16 when first considering my UCAS application for University, I knew I wanted to be a Physiotherapist. Knowing now how much I enjoy variety, looking back it was a fantastic decision on my part to choose to do both my undergraduate and my Master’s Degree (if I do say so myself!), which gives me the option to treat both humans and animals. 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