Front Matter

Chapter 8 Therapeutic Exercise 193

eight poles. The height of the poles should be
approximately half the height from the ground
to the dog’s accessory carpal pad throughout
this exercise.
Progression: The distance between the poles
is slowly increased, encouraging the patient to
increase thoracic limb reach and pelvic limb
drive. This is done until the patient is incapable
of taking longer strides as indicated by taking
two steps between each pair of poles.

Burst exercises (intervals)

Technique: The patient is first warmed up
by walking and then trotting appropriate to
their level of fitness. Sprints are added.
These may involve chasing a ball or other
rapid acceleration activity. Two to ten repeti­
tions are completed, followed by a slight
cool down, and then more sprints. The num­
ber of intervals and length of each exertion
period is increased based upon the patient’s
ability. Patients generally start with two to
three intervals of two to five bursts. The
high‐end athlete should be able to complete
five sets of 10 repetitions. The therapist
should monitor for signs of fatigue or sore
muscles after this work.
When working with the high‐end athlete that
is training for competition, the goal is to repli­
cate the movements they will do in competi­
tion. When working with a new athlete, skills
are trained once or twice per week. For the sea­
soned athlete, training should focus on sprints
and endurance, with minimal attention paid to
skill training unless an injury has interrupted
training for more than 3 to 4 weeks, in which
case skill training needs to be reviewed before
competition.

Endurance work

Walking, running, and swimming are used to
condition patients whose jobs require long
duration running and/or trotting.
Goal: Increase the duration and intensity of
training as the patient’s fitness improves. A
conditioned police dog may run on the tread­
mill with the incline at near maximum levels
for up to 60 minutes. Retrievers may practice
five to six water retrieves of up to 150 yards or

sprint work involving 30 to 50 ball retrieves.

The rehabilitation therapist should emphasize

cross training on all endurance skills to prevent

overtraining injury as well as boredom and

frustration for the patient.

The stabilizer muscles also require training

that increases stamina, and the physioball can

be very helpful with this. The first technique

is termed walking‐forward‐with‐the‐ball. The

patient’s front feet are placed on a peanut ball,

with the patient in control of the ball. As the

rehabilitation therapist encourages the patient

to move forward, the patient’s rear feet walk

forward while the front feet must step backward

to keep the ball in control and rolling forward.

This exercise progresses to backward‐walking‐

with‐the‐ball. With the patient in the same posi­

tion on the ball, the therapist rolls the ball

encouraging the patient to walk backward with

the rear feet. This requires that the patient step

forward with the front feet on the ball. The next

level of difficulty is to have the patient circle the

ball while keeping the front feet on the ball. The

pelvic limbs walk in a clockwise or counter­

clockwise direction around the ball. These three

ball exercises work the abductors, adductors,

and joint stabilizers of all four limbs and the

trunk.

Unilateral or focal strengthening

Goal: Increase weight bearing on the affected

limb to increase strength on that side. These

exercises are for the patient who is already fully

and appropriately walking on the limb, but

who requires unilateral exercise to attain

symmetry.

Hill walking perpendicular to the slope

This exercises the uphill limbs, as this side has

to push off and resist gravity to a greater

extent than the downhill limbs. This exercise

requires the rehabilitation therapist to walk

across the hill so that the affected limb is con­

sistently working harder than the contralat­

eral limb. If the patient appears to use the

uninjured limb more than the affected limb,

the patient is reassessed and, if needed,

treated for pain before increasing the diffi­

culty of the exercise.