Chapter 5 Introduction to Canine Rehabilitation 97Defining the practice of canine
rehabilitation
One of the challenges in establishing a new
specialty is defining the specific characteristics
of the practice as well as identifying the requisite
level of knowledge, professional skills, clinical
reasoning, and professional behaviors neces
sary for practitioners to safely and effectively
provide specialized care. Canine rehabilitation
has evolved from the practice of both veteri
nary medicine and human rehabilitation medi
cine, specifically, physical therapy. Professional
and regulatory organizations are now faced
with the task of defining this new collaborative
specialty, in which both veterinarians and
physical therapists practice, while examining
the contributions from both fields as well.
Traditionally, the field of rehabilitation medi
cine has been driven by an interprofessional
team that manages the individual needs of
the patient and includes physical medicine
and rehabilitation physicians, physical thera
pists, occupational therapists, speech language
pathologists, nurses, physician extenders and
other medical professionals.
Physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R),
also referred to as physiatry, is a medical spe
cialty with a focus on the management of phys
ical and/or cognitive impairments that affect
disability throughout the life span (American
Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation,
2016). Physiatrists are trained in the rehabili
tation of disorders of the neurological, muscu
loskeletal, and other organ systems and in
the long‐term management of patients with
disabling conditions. This specialty involves
the secondary and tertiary prevention of disease
and injury through the medical management
of pain, comorbidities, and contextual factors
specific to the individual patient. This is accom
plished through diagnostic and therapeutic
injection and electro‐diagnostic procedures, as
well as medication management. Physiatrists
provide leadership to the interprofessional
team concerned with the restoration of physi
cal, psychological, social, occupational, and
vocational function in patients whose abilities
have been limited by disease, trauma, congeni
tal disorders, or pain. The interdisciplinary
team collaborates with the physiatrist to enable
the patient to maximize functional abilities
(American Board of Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation, 2016).
Physical therapy or physiotherapy, as defined
by the World Confederation for Physical
Therapy (WCPT), is a rehabilitation specialty
with a focus on the restoration, maintenance,
and promotion of optimal physical function
throughout the life span. Physical therapy is
provided by physical therapists to individuals
who have or may develop impairments, activity
limitations, and participation restrictions related
to conditions of the musculoskeletal, neuro
muscular, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and/or
integumentary systems; or the negative effects
attributable to unique individual and environ
mental factors as they relate to performance.
Physical therapy might be used in circum
stances in which movement and function are
reduced by aging, injury, pain, diseases, disor
ders, conditions, or environmental factors.
Physical therapists, also known as physiother
apists, provide a functional assessment to iden
tify pain or loss of function caused by a physical
injury, disorder, or disability and develop treat
ment plans to reduce pain, improve movement
quality, address individual patient needs, and
restore normal muscular control, for improve
ments in motor performance and function
(McGowan, 2007; American Physical Therapy
Association, 2015).
Sports medicine, in human medicine, is a
subspecialty of both medicine and physical
therapy. A primary care sports medicine spe
cialist is a physician with training in the treat
ment and prevention of illness and injury
who has completed 1 to 2 years of additional
fellowship training in sports medicine. The
sports medicine specialist helps patients to
maximize function and minimize disability
and time away from sports, work, or school.
The sports medicine physician is also board‐
certified in Emergency Medicine, Family
Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, or
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and is a
leader of the sports medicine team, which
might also include other specialty physicians
and surgeons, athletic trainers, physical ther
apists, coaches, strength and conditioning
professionals, nutritionists, sport psycholo
gists, neuropsychologists, and the athlete
(American Medical Society for Sports
Medicine, 2016).