Your patients can heal faster!
Your patients can heal better!
Post-operative rehabilitation is an under-utilised tool in animal health care in Australia. Until NOW!
Don’t get left behind, meet Elena…
At the VetPrac Ossability Stifle System Dry Lab and Rehabilitation workshop in Melbourne on April 5-6, 2018, Elena Saltis, a canine physiotherapist specializing in orthopaedics and neurology, will teach participants practical manual therapy techniques and therapeutic exercises using real patients. You will leave the day with the skills to start using cruciate rehabilitation as a new service in your clinic.
Let’s get to know Elena, and why she, like the majority of vets, prefers to treat animals than humans!
What do you like to do for fun? Walk my dogs, yoga, mountain biking, skiing, reading
What first sparked your interest in veterinary physiotherapy? I had a Doberman with Wobblers and I knew I could do so much more for her and I was also up for a new challenge after getting all my human clinics up and running well.
Do you prefer treating humans or animals? Are you still working in the human field as well? I prefer animals of course!! I am still a NZ registered human physiotherapist and work with humans in a select capacity.
What are some of the challenges you face performing physiotherapy in animals that you don’t encounter in humans? Not many really – the humans were far more challenging, but I guess the main challenge would be developing a relationship with the animal where my patient feels safe and comfortable can be a challenge initially with some dogs that are frightened and hurt.
Do you find compliance with treatment is better with pet owners or human patients? Yes, most definitely. Pet owners tend to be much more compliant with treatment and home programs. I think the pet owners feel a responsibility to their pet so are more willing to put the time into them, also the home programs are much more fun with animals, so this might have an influence on compliance.
Please share some of your tips to improve compliance with physiotherapy amongst pet owners. First, if a patient does not like an exercise or activity then don’t do it, find something everyone likes. Having the owner video the therapist performing the home exercise is great and also reassuring the owner that if they are struggling with something just stop and we will work with them to get it right.
What is the most memorable veterinary case you’ve been involved with, that resulted in dramatic improvement to the animal’s quality of life? This is difficult as there have been so many! Probably a wee Pug that was a tetraplegic with Immune mediated myositis. The recommendation from the Vets and Specialists was euthanasia but with intense physiotherapy he returned to full function and a very happy life. There were many challenges along the way such as a sudden quadriceps contracture which we had to treat (and did successfully). He had an amazing attitude and very devoted owners and he was just incredible.
Why not register for the workshop here and help your patients achieve their best possible outcome after cruciate surgery! If you’d like more information please feel free to check out the brochure.
Contact information: [email protected]
Website: www.animalphysionz.com
Written by Alison Caiafa