Abstract
ABSTRACT: Patients who undergo excisional surgical procedures such as femoral head and neck ostectomy (FHO) require a postoperative rehabilitation plan which includes different physical therapy modalities. Therefore, this retrospective study was done to demonstrate the different physical therapy modalities utilized in 20 dogs who were subjected to FHO, and to provide data on the frequency of physical therapy modalities, the protocol duration and time interval from the commencement of physiotherapy and surgery and the patient’s functional recovery. All the protocols included the modalities of thermotherapy (heat), massage, passive stretching and passive joint movement. In the initial phase, electrotherapy and therapeutic ultrasound were most often used, while the water treadmill was continued until the treatment was completed. Physiotherapy sessions varied from 3 to 50 in number, and physiotherapy was commenced from day 5 until day 214 post the surgical procedure. The functional recovery of the limb was in the following range: 65% (13/20) satisfactory, 25% (5/20) partially satisfactory and 10% (2/20) unsatisfactory. Physical therapy treatment was thus concluded to be most influential in the functional recovery of the limb, even if was started late.
Highlights
In veterinary medicine, surgeons continue to be hesitant to include physiotherapy exercises post an orthopedic surgical procedure
The physiotherapeutic modalities employed are taken from the current literature on veterinary physiotherapy (MILIS & LEVINE, 2014; PRYDIE & HEWIT, 2015; MCGOWAN & GOFF, 2016), adopting the guidelines established for the use of each modality, in accordance with the surgical technique and duration post the operative procedure (PRYDIE & HEWIT, 2015)
Poor Satisfactory Satisfactory Satisfactory Satisfactory Satisfactory Partially satisfactory Partially satisfactory Satisfactory Satisfactory Satisfactory surgery occurred anytime from 5 to 214 days. This result enabled us to suggest that physical therapy was indicated only when no spontaneous functional recovery of the affected pelvic limb was observed, because all the dogs referred to physiotherapy did not support the limb
Summary
Surgeons continue to be hesitant to include physiotherapy exercises post an orthopedic surgical procedure. An appropriate rehabilitation plan adopted during the postoperative period, which includes different physical therapy modalities, will definitely provide a higher degree of patient comfort and a speedier return of limb function (DAVIDSON et al, 2005). In recent years, the adoption of physiotherapy modalities in small animals is a fastgrowing trend, even so, there is a paucity of scientific articles which demonstrate the inclusion of physical therapy during the postoperative period of dogs which undergo orthopedic surgeries. The present retrospective study was performed with the aim to demonstrate the different physical therapy modalities used in 20 dogs, post FHO, and providing data on the physical therapy modality frequency, protocol duration and the time interval from the commencement of the physiotherapy and surgery to functional recovery of the patient
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