Why Farm Animal Physio?
Farm animal physio is increasing in popularity. Read below to find out why!
Common reasons for having physio?
Postpartum (after birth)
To reduce the likelihood of injury/further injury
To manage long-term degenerative conditions eg. osteoarthritis
Neurological disorders
Improve performance
Postpartum
Giving birth is hard work, therefore it could be expected that the animal will be sore meaning they are harder to handle. Physiotherapy can also be used to improve the healing of farm animals postpartum. As techniques can be applied to control inflammation to ensure the area heals effectively. By speeding up the healing process, the animal is less likely to get an infection.
E.g. managing any pain or swelling that may have arisen after giving birth.
Injury Reduction
Like humans, farm animals can be accident-prone too! However, there are things that can be done to help reduce this! In indoor environments, rubber matting is great for this, as it is less concussive reducing the risk of sole ulcers! This area is heavily researched therefore you can have faith that I am using research-based practice!
E.g. ensuring that they can comfortably navigate a ground surface.
Long-Term Management
Long-term management is important for farm animals as it will help slow down the progression of a condition giving them a better quality of life. As well as this helping with compensatory issues that may have occurred as a result, such as sore muscles.
E.g. maintaining joint health for osteoarthritis (bone arthritis).
Neurological Disorders
Physiotherapy is a great way at improving the functionality of nerves, by using stimulation techniques. This is just for disorders, physio can help any farm animal improve proprioception, the animal's awareness of its legs. Improving this means that your animal is less likely to fall over and therefore less likely to get injured!
E.g. improving balance after vestibular disease (middle ear infections)
Improve Performance
Farm animals are athletes as well as humans, therefore also get sore muscles and performance-related injuries. There is so much more to these animals that standing in a field! Stud animals will spend a lot of time with all their weight on their hind end. This can lead to sore muscles and potentially degenerative conditions such as osteoarthritis from the increased weight behind. This can mean painful and grumpy animal = hard to manage and reduced performance! Physiotherapy can help manage this, by giving you tips and tricks to aid performance. Exercises are one way of doing this, to improve muscle mass and ensure that all muscles are used effectively.
E.g. managing back pain of breeding animals, so that they are more comfortable doing it and therefore more likely to be successful.