Hydrotherapy is a form of physiotherapy rehabilitation that may offer benefits to any wise woof suffering from a neurological or musculoskeletal disease or injury. In humans, hydrotherapy rehabilitation has shown promising effects in helping with increasing cardiovascular endurance, decreasing swelling, improving muscle strength, decreasing pain, improving joint range of motion, and reducing mechanical stresses applied to limbs. Hydrotherapy often occurs as swimming in pools, with jets or a jacuzzi system for added resistance, or even as underwater treadmills. The added resistance plus different properties of water creates an environment suitable for rehabilitation.
The use of hydrotherapy has expanded greatly with canines. The number of facilities has grown exponentially according to researchers in the United Kingdom. However, underwater treadmills were present in very few facilities. The expected success for water based veterinary physiotherapy is largely based on evidence from human studies and theory related to other types of similar treatments. It is likely for aquatic therapies to help canines because of the buoyancy property of water, which can significantly decrease the stress on weight-bearing joints, bones, and muscles. Buoyancy is just another force that is exerted on an object. In this case, the buoyancy property of water exerts an upward force on a dog while it is in the water, putting less stress on certain joints, bones, and muscles. This upward force directly opposes the downward pull of gravity.
Density is also important in this scenario. Humans and dogs are both less dense than water, allowing us to be supported by water and float. Hydrotherapy also uses other properties of water such as hydrostatic pressure, viscosity, resistance, and surface tension to help increase muscle mass, strength, and endurance, while decreasing pain. As a result, this form of rehabilitation can improve mobility in dogs with osteoarthritis, especially as they age. Several studies have honed in on swimming’s ability to improve joint range of motion just after a few sessions spread out over a couple months. Additional osteoarthritis studies demonstrated the use of hydrotherapy may help prevent humans from developing an abnormal gait.
Hydrotherapy also has its place in rehabilitation for neurodegenerative disorders in dogs. In a 2006 study, researchers found that controlled physiotherapy (which includes hydrotherapy) prolonged survival time of dogs suffering from degenerative myelopathy by an average of 255 days . Hydrotherapy has also been tested to determine if it might aid in the recovery process for dogs undergoing a thoracolumbar hemilaminectomy, which is a surgical procedure used to treat thoracolumbar intervertebral disc extrusion. While hydrotherapy may offer potential benefits for dogs in postoperative recovery, it also has the potential to create complications. Complications such as surgical site infections may occur if hydrotherapy occurs too soon after surgical operations are completed.
Overall, hydrotherapy is another one of the increasing number of tools we have to help treat injured and elderly dogs. Studies have shown minimal risk when used responsibly, and that benefits can be significant. As a treatment we have personally used for our dogs, Hydrotherapy gets the Wise Woof stamp of approval.
