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Rehabilitation
Improving Mobility. Improving Life.
Rehabilitation at Dripping Springs Animal Hospital is led by Colleen Dudley, DVM. Her passion is to help pets in the Austin area achieve their best life by using rehabilitation to decrease pain and restore mobility.
She was first exposed to veterinary rehabilitation during her schooling at Purdue University and learned the positive impact it can have on her patient’s quality of life. Dr. Dudley pursued continuing education for veterinary rehabilitation in 2020 to help achieve her goal of helping her patients live their best life. Dr. Dudley is currently enrolled in the University of Tennessee’s Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner (C.C.R.P.) program and is working towards completing her certification.
Follow her on Instagram @drdudleydvm to learn more about rehabilitation and the positive impact it is making on her patients.
Common Conditions
Please keep in mind are just common examples, many other cases benefit from rehabilitation.
Rehabilitation for Arthritic Patients
There are three big categories of patients that benefit from rehabilitation: arthritis, orthopedic, and neurologic. Rehabilitation is available for arthritis of the:
🐾 Hip
🐾 Knee
🐾 Elbow
🐾 Shoulder
🐾 Wrist
🐾 Ankle
Rehabilitation for Traditional Post-Op Patients
Rehabilitation for orthopedic disease benefits both post-operative patients and those that did not undergo surgery. Traditional post-operative patients include:
🐾 Fracture repairs
🐾 Knee surgery
🐾 TPLO
🐾 Hip surgery
Rehabilitation for Non-Surgical Orthopedic Patients
Non-surgical orthopedic patients that also benefit from rehabilitation include:
🐾 Bandage/splint/cast for longer than 2 weeks
🐾 Tendon injuries
🐾 Muscle injuries
🐾 Orthotic devices
Rehabilitation for Neurologic Patients
Rehabilitation for neurologic disease is similar to orthopedic in that there are post-operative patients as well as those that did not undergo surgery. Common neurologic conditions that benefit from rehabilitation include:
🐾 Herniated discs (both surgical and non-surgical)
🐾 Back pain
🐾 Degenerative myelopathy
🐾 Stenosis
🐾 Wobbler’s disease
In-House Sessions
Every rehabilitation journey starts with an in-house evaluation.
Dr. Dudley will perform orthopedic, neurologic, and rehabilitation examinations as needed to fully evaluate what is wrong and how best to treat your family member. She will also adjust pain medications as needed, help set short-term and long-term goals, and create custom at-home and in-house rehabilitation programs.
In-house rehabilitation sessions are led either by Dr. Dudley or one of her trained technicians. Sessions are generally 30 minutes and are mainly made up of therapeutic exercises, the mainstay of any rehabilitation program. Depending on each patient’s individual need, additional therapies such as LASER and cryotherapy may also be used.
Regular in-house sessions enable Dr. Dudley to adjust at-home programs as each patient progresses at their individual pace, and allows her to help you troubleshoot any problems you may be having. At the conclusion of your in-house sessions, your family member is graduated to at-home-only exercise programs.
At-Home Sessions
After your pet’s rehabilitation evaluation, Dr. Dudley will create a custom at-home exercise program that you can access through our rehab portal.
At-home exercise programs consist of exercises and activities for you and your four-legged family member to complete several times a day, usually in 20 minutes or less, to help supplement their in-house program, or maintain their progress after graduation.
