Chapter 5 Introduction to Canine Rehabilitation 99and leading the rehabilitation team by coordi
nating referrals within the team and providing
veterinary medical clearance for various reha
bilitative and CAVM services. The veterinarian
might provide a specific knowledge and skill
set, directly contributing to the rehabilitation
of the patient as well, whether qualified as a
boarded specialist (in surgery, neurology, inter
nal medicine, nutrition, or sports medicine
and rehabilitation) or certified or trained in
acupuncture, chiropractic, myofascial trigger
point therapy, rehabilitation, or regenerative
medicine.
In the United States, a doctor of veterinary
medicine or veterinarian (DVM, VMD) com
pletes 4 years of doctoral‐level professional
education following completion of prerequisites
in a bachelor’s degree program. Veterinarians
who choose to further qualify in one of 21
specialties complete an internship and a 3‐year
residency, publish research, and take a specialty
examination (McGowan, 2007).
A veterinary technician may or may not
have an associate’s or bachelor’s degree and
might be certified, registered, or licensed (in
47 of 50 states, at the time of this publication)
to practice directly under the supervision of a
veterinarian. Veterinary technicians can attend
canine rehabilitation certification programs in
the United States and are valued members
of the rehabilitation team (McGowan, 2007;
National Association of Veterinary Technicians
in America, 2017).
The physical therapist might be involved
directly in the evaluation and treatment of the
canine rehabilitation patient by referral or after
receiving veterinary medical clearance, indi
rectly as a consultant to the rehabilitation team,
or as a team leader, orchestrating the various
members of the rehabilitation team. Physical
therapists do not work in canine rehabilitation
autonomously, as they might when practicing
with human patients. However, it is important
that they continue to practice within, and be
regulated by, their own profession and regula
tory and licensure boards (McGowan, 2007).
Having received additional training and educa
tion in canine anatomy, physiology, biomechan
ics, pathology, orthopedics, and neurology, the
physical therapist might be certified in canine
rehabilitation or may complete an advanced
master’s degree in animal physiotherapy in one
of several programs available worldwide. The
physical therapist might provide skill, knowl
edge, or expertise to the rehabilitation manage
ment of the canine patient, for example, in
manual therapy (mobilization, manipulation,
and other specialized techniques), myofascial
trigger point therapy, kinesiotaping, or neuro
facilitation (neurodevelopmental training or
proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation).
Physical therapists are neuromusculoskeletal
rehabilitation specialists who have a defined
role in the current medical model under the
World Health Organization (WHO). In the
United States, physical therapists (PTs) com
plete a 3–4‐year doctoral‐level professional
education program (DPT) at an accredited
college or university following completion of
prerequisites in the basic sciences and a bachelor ’s
degree program. They are required to pass a
national board examination for licensure. As in
medicine, postgraduate professional develop
ment can continue with specialized residency
training and, beyond that, fellowship training,
which allows for board certification as a
specialist in one of eight specialties desig
nated by the American Board of Physical
Therapy Specialties (ABPTS). Physical thera
pists are also active researchers, contribut
ing to the science of rehabilitation related to
the primary, secondary, and tertiary preven
tion of injuries, diseases, and disorders of
all body systems (American Physical Therapy
Association, 2015).
In practice, physical therapists direct their
evaluation and treatment through the disable
ment model rather than the medical model of
disease (World Health Organization, 1997).
This focuses physical therapy interventions on
the overall ability, disability, or function of the
individual by directly addressing the impair
ments that relate to the specific needs of the
patient. The therapist does not directly treat
the pathology or medical diagnosis, but rather
the impairments caused by them. An example
of this is the use of treatment interventions that
address pain, altered joint biomechanics,
altered muscle length‐tension and motor con
trol, and altered joint range of motion in a
patient with the medical diagnosis of a scapular
body fracture, rather than directly treating the
scapular body fracture itself. Through this
approach, physical therapists can reduce the