Week 2 Part 1- Rehab class

This week, and potentially next week, I am participating in a class/practical focusing on physical rehabilitation. I am specifically interested in doing rehab with neurology patients and hopefully incorporating my massage background in to my work as a tech at some point.  It's just me and two senior vet students in this class given by a vet who specializes in physical rehab.  This morning we talked about the use of carts to assist animals with mobility issues. Then, in the afternoon, we saw a patient with significant hind end weakness and muscle atrophy as well as some front end weakness. At this point, she is unable to support her hind end but can sit up using her forelimbs and can also pull herself around.  She does not yet have a definitive diagnosis explaining the cause of her mobility issues but most likely has multiple things going on. The neurologist, orthopedist and her general practice veterinarian have suggested that she may have lumbosacral disease (that's the back end) and/or cervical myelopathy (cervical disc issue...that's the front end).

We got to do an assessment on her including mobility with various slings to assist with her back and front ends, palpation of muscle tone and general body condition, reflexes and range of motion as well as her general attitude and response to various types of encouragement to move and utilize her hind end.  We discussed the appropriateness of a cart for her and possible physical therapy approaches that she may benefit from.

So, I have loads of research/homework to do tonight (unfortunately I sent Turbo Nerd Mara on vacation last week so only Semi Nerd Mara is here and her motivation level to do all of this stuff is WAY lower).  We're responsible for researching the different types of carts and the pros and cons of each as well as their construction and required measurements. We also have to determine an appropriate plan to introduce a patient to a cart and how to slowly increase the time they spend in it over 2-3 weeks. PLUS we have to assess the potential problems for our specific real live patient and determine possible solutions. The vet running this class also wants me to put together a little presentation on small animal massage which should be a fun mini-project.

I did manage to squeeze in a successful jugular blood draw this morning as well, woohoo!