Because I’m trained in chiropractic for animals, I see a lot of dogs and cats whose owners have recognized that their pets’ body isn’t moving exactly like it should be. It can be simple like holding up a foot to something bigger like a torn ACL. And whether or not the animal goes to surgery… it still needs rehab.
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For anybody who’s sprained an ankle or broken a bone, you understand this first hand. First, you have to get the original injury to heal. Then you have to rehabilitate the muscles around the injury. In some cases, it’s actually retraining the body to use itself properly.
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This is where I really like the use of walking backwards as a rehab exercise.
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To understand the benefits, I’m gonna have you try something next time you walk into a room.
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Walk into the room. And with your peripheral vision, you can see all the way around from left forward to right. You know where everything is. You cross the room. Now, someone holds your favorite chocolate chip cookie, right under your nose and pushes it towards you and the only way that you can get a bite is if you walk backwards- but you’re focused on the cookie.
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And you remember there’s a chair to the left. And a lamp to the right. And somewhere back there is a wall. But you’re focused on the cookie. So in order to walk backwards, you have to pick up your rear leg much higher than when you came shuffling into the room, dragging your feet. So when you back up, you lift your legs higher. Reach with them. Place them. You do this with a lot more conscious intent than when you simply walked into the room and crossed to the other side.
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So this is how we train our dogs to walk backwards. (It’s a little tricky with cats. You can get them to walk backwards if they are properly food motivated.)
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Use that treat. Say, “back, back, back, back.” Get your pup to walk backwards. Give up the treat.
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Another way to get this to happen is to place the coffee table about a foot away from the couch and make your dog walk backwards between the coffee table and the couch. It just takes a little bit of practice. And all of a sudden your dog learns to walk backwards. And it’s a light rehab therapy for the back legs.
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They’re still gonna walk better if they get chiropractic care because it lines up the pelvis which lines up the legs. Sometimes anti-inflammatory herbals are helpful. Sometimes herbals that rebuild and nourish the joints are helpful. All of these things work together to help rehabilitate your pet’s rear end.
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Still seeing patients in Tampa, Clearwater, and virtually.