Physiotherapy for humans and dogs

I grew up living in the centre of Plymouth, with a mother who was a dog lover, and a father who was a Chartered Physiotherapist in private practice. He was not an animal lover, so my mother used all her considerable powers of persuasion to obtain our first dog, a Whippet cross Italian greyhound named Whisper. Whisper had an accident as a puppy, before we had her, and had a couple of claws missing, which we were assured would regrow. Unfortunately, they didn’t regrow, and she would often hop.  Over the years of this unlevel gait, she became weak in her hind limbs. Our vet diagnosed osteo-arthritis in her spine and told me to take her home and ask Dad to give her some physiotherapy – “just like he does to me”. Whisper improved, and then we treated a couple of friends’ dogs, and so was born my interest in the possibility of Physiotherapy for animals.

Physio for animals was not a career option in 1969 so I decided to go and train to be a “human physio” and then see what I could do, once trained, to investigate how I could transfer my skills to animals.

Once qualified in 1972 from St Thomas’ Hospital I was fortunate to work in the London Private Practice for the renowned Orthopaedic Medicine Specialist Dr James Cyriax. Dr Cyriax was a hugely influential figure in the diagnosis and treatment of Musculo-skeletal injuries. While working there I gained huge experience in the accurate diagnosis and treatment of some complex cases, and together with teaching on his courses, provided me with extremely valuable post-graduation experience.

Whilst working there I was fortunate enough to be introduced to a highly respected horse vet who had started working with an equine chiropractor, and I began to discover there were a number of horse “back men” working gaining good results. 

I started to gain knowledge, co-operating with vets, and discovered there were a few other physios gaining practical experience in this field. In 1985, led by the indomitable Mary Bromiley, we formed ACPAT (The Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Animal Therapy)

My early career was mainly with horses, then about fifteen years ago, along with my late husband we opened a Hydrotherapy centre, as we had seen such a huge increase in the need for rehabilitation due to injuries and osteo-arthritis in dogs. I feel that having physiotherapy integral to  the treatment of hydrotherapy patients, which was a first in the South-West, is really important. 

Over the years I have seen a dramatic increase in the number of dogs with problems related to developmental disease, poor conformation, obesity, poor exercise practice. I feel strongly that we need more public education to try to prevent these injuries and early development of Osteo-arthritis. 

I run my Human Physiotherapy Practice from my home on a Part-time basis.