FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions
We appreciate that not many people have heard of animal physiotherapy before they need us and therefore don’t know what to expect or whether physiotherapy is the right option for their pet. If these FAQs don’t answer all of your questions, please feel welcome to contact us!

1. How do you become a pet physiotherapist?

  • In Australia, you first have to be a qualified human physiotherapist (four years at university) and then additional training must be undertaken in animals. Helen is the first that we know of in the world to complete both a Masters and PhD in animal physiotherapy, which was an extra five years at university (2 for the Masters and 3 for the PhD). Naomi, on the other hand, is one of less than 10 people we know of in the world who is both a qualified physiotherapist and (as of January 27th, 2012!) a qualified veterinarian! Like Helen, Naomi has also spent 9 years at university!
  • There are different rules in different countries, so please google the national physiotherapy association in your country and contact them for current requirements if you are interested in becoming an animal physiotherapist yourself.
  • We also run regular workshops and practical courses – please contact Helen, our team leader, directly for more information.

2. What sort of conditions are appropriate for physiotherapy?

  • Pretty much anything you’d see a human physio for, we can treat in animals, too. We just modify what we do to compensate for the fact that they don’t speak and they have different anatomy and postures than people. Pets don’t lie, though, so that always makes it much easier than working on some people!
  • As a general guide, we always say ‘don’t MOAN – see the physio’ where ‘MOAN’ stands for:
    • Muscular – e.g. strains, trigger points, imbalances, weaknesses
    • Orthopaedic – e.g. fractures, cruciate ligaments, hip or elbow dysplasia, arthritis
    • Airways – e.g. brachycephalic (short-faced) dogs that require surgery, pneumonia, bronchitis-type conditions
    • Neurological – e.g. sciatic nerve palsy, spinal fractures, disc surgery, brachial plexus lesions

3. What species do you treat?

  • Although we are trained to treat both large and small animals, we only work with small species because that keeps us busy enough! We have treated dogs of all sizes; cats; rabbits; bats; a kangaroo; a wombat; a blue-tongue lizard and even been referred a goat! (The goat is a long story, though – it couldn’t be caught, so we didn’t think it sounded all that paralysed after all!)
  • With our team expanding, we plan to soon offer equine physiotherapy, so stay tuned!

4. Can’t you do all my pet’s physio?

  • Although most owners prefer to have something to do at home to give them the ability to actively contribute to their pet’s recovery, we do have very busy owners who don’t have time for homework, or those who are going away or don’t feel confident enough to do the homework themselves. Although in all cases it is best to have at least one short session of physio homework per day in a familiar environment with people your pet trusts, we now offer a new service at the Animal Referral Hospital where pets can be admitted on a day stay or longer inpatient basis for our specially trained staff to perform the complete physio program for you utilising all of our state-of-the-art facilities in our new physio gym. Please note that this service is provided at an extra fee, which varies depending on how much care your pet requires.
  • You then practise the ‘homework’ and send us a ‘progress report’ each Monday so that we can monitor your pet’s progress without running up your bill any more than necessary.
  • The physio’s job is therefore like a ‘coach’ and when your pet has mastered the first ‘homework’ it is then our job to upgrade it. Occasionally, we have pets that have problems mastering their homework, in which case we will review them to determine a ‘Plan B homework’ instead (e.g. your pet may require some safe electrotherapy techniques to ‘boost’ or ‘back up’ the modified homework plan).

5. Will physio hurt my pet?

  • No! Your pet should never, ever, ever be worse after physio or sore during it! We work on gentle hands-on techniques and food-rewarded exercises so your pet is motivated to work towards their recovery.
  • Many owners of shy pets complement us on our ability to work calmly and quietly to help put their pets at ease – some owners have even commented on their surprise that their pets allowed us to touch them and we have even been licked by pets that have previously bitten!

6. How often will we need to come to physio?

  • It really depends on what is wrong with your pet and how quickly they are recovering. At one end of the spectrum, some paralysed pets will need to be admitted for intensive physiotherapy until they start to take their first steps, while  other paralysed pets recover very quickly and soon move to fortnightly or monthly sessions to further challenge their strength and co-ordination.
  • At the other end of the spectrum, some pets with very mild arthritis or sporting injuries may only need two sessions spaced two to four weeks apart.
  • As a general rule, the more homework you do and the more progress reports you send in (allowing us to fine-tune the program without bringing you in) the less frequently you need to come to physio and the less you pay overall!
  • Where their budgets allow, some owners prefer to bring their pets in for 3- or 6-monthly check-ups for life so that their hard work is not undone.

 7. Where do we see you and how do we make an appointment?

  • This information is on the contacts page. Please feel free to book through the hospital or to contact us directly if you have more questions before deciding whether physiotherapy is the right option for you and your pet.

 8. Is physio expensive and is it covered by my pet insurance?

  • Although pet physio is more expensive per session than most human physios, you bring your pet to physio much less frequently than you would for the same problem in a human, because you’re in doing the homework program on a near-daily basis. Perhaps if we rewarded our human patients with Tim Tams, we wouldn’t have gotten bored of human physio, as we earn far more working with humans than animals!
  • Because you have a veterinary referral to come to physio and the physio is performed in a veterinary hospital by a qualified physiotherapist, provided your policy covers your pet’s condition, most policies will contribute to the costs of physio.
  • Remember, we will always do our best to work within your budget to get the best outcome for your pet.

9. Is swimming a good idea?

  • Swimming can be great and it can be a disaster, depending on a number of factors. For example, a paralysed dog who has never liked water may panic if swimming is done incorrectly. Furthermore, thought must be given to what we are trying to achieve by working in water.  Many people don’t know that swimming does not stimulate the muscles that support the joints to help protect them from pain and injury – this is because there is no contact of the feet with the ground and bouyancy is stronger than gravity when we swim.  Proper exercise programs therefore need to be designed that target the required muscles and they need to be done frequently enough to have an effect.

→As an alternative to swimming, we now have a special treadmill at our gym at Homebush. This treadmill offers many advantages over water work:

  • it has an incline/decline function that allows us to target the front or back legs better;
  • we can use it immediately after surgery wihtout worrying about getting wounds wet; and
  • we can use it with one of our adjustable wheelchairs should we need to relieve weight through a particular joint.

 10. What about acupuncture?

  • There are very few people we trust to do acupuncture or other forms of needle work (e.g. ‘dry needling’) on pets – please contact us to find out who we have experience working with and therefore recommend. Ideally, a qualified animal acupuncturist will work as part of the team with the physio to complement each other’s work. This ensures the outcomes are better than either physio or acupuncture would normally achieve alone.
  • Please do not trust your pet’s care to someone who has not obtained proper education in the acupuncture of animals! At all times, make sure that all people working with your pet are part of the team which is led by your vet – this helps to ensure the safety of your pet.
  • IVAS accreditation is the gold standard of acupuncture in animals in Australia.

11. What about chiropractic?

  • There are very few qualified animal chiropractors in Australia – please check the credentials of the chiropractor beforehand, just as you should with an acupuncturist or physiotherapist. Chiropractic and physiotherapy are different, so you are best to talk with both the physio and the chiropractor about their intended treatment programs to see which course of treatment you and your vet feel is more appropriate for your pet’s specific condition. As always, make sure that all people working with your pet are part of the team which is led by your vet – this helps to ensure the safety of your pet.

12. What about massage therapy?

  • As with acupuncture, chiropractic and physiotherapy, it is important that you employ someone with the proper credentials and who is happy to work as part of the team led by your vet.
  • Massaging pets requires a different skill-set than massaging humans. For example, pets don’t have the cognitive ability to ‘breathe… try to relax… it’s for my own good…’ that humans have – pets instead respond to painful massage by spasming further, even if they are wagging their tail because they enjoy the attention.
  • Our physios are university-trained in massage and have had further instruction from Dr Helen Nicholson, who has massaged pets for over a decade and so knows what does and doesn’t work.
  • We have developed gentle strategies that we can teach you to do on your pet safely at home, so please ask if you require further information.

13. My own physio uses lots of machines on me – can you do that for my pet?

  • Indeed, we are trained in the correct, safe use of all the machines available to other human physiotherapists, but we have found over the years that these are typically best left as ‘back up’ to the initial hands-on physio techniques and treat-rewarded exercises that the owners can continue on a daily basis at home, as this typically leads to a faster and more sustained improvement.
  • This is largely because we don’t see animal patients as frequently as we do human patients – and because the animals are much more motivated to do their exercises at home because they get fed when they do them!
  • A word of warning – please be careful about allowing non-physiotherapists to use machines such as therapeutic ultrasound or LASER on your pet. We have seen pets burnt from the incorrect use of these machines and indeed, even if they are used safely but at the wrong time in the healing process, they can do more harm than good.
  • Many designed-for-human machines have not been tested on pets to determine the correct dosage rates, so we make sure we use only the safest of machines and only when there are no simpler techniques available to achieve the same benefits without the same risks of harm.

14. How did you come up with your company name of ‘Danskar Enterprises’?

Oddly enough, nobody asked this question for over 10 years, and then suddenly two people asked in the same week and it’s snowballed from there! Dante and Skarlett were Helen’s family’s first two dogs together, so we took the first syllable of each dog’s name and named our company after them! Dante’s name went first, because he was the oldest.

15. Haven’t answered all of your questions?

  • Please contact our team leader, Helen, who will be happy to help in any way she can.