A New Approach to Overall Health
Across America, people are tuning in and listening to their bodies. Rather than only reaching for the nearest bottle of medicine, many people are exploring complementary modalities to health care including nutritional supplements, acupuncture, yoga, massage, laser therapy and meditation.
The Physical Medicine Department at Animal Medical of New City
Interestingly, these modalities have also been shown to be beneficial to animals. That is why, at Animal Medical of New City, we are now providing our patients with veterinary supervised physical medicine treatments such as therapeutic exercises, acupuncture, cold laser and ultrasound therapy and massage as a complement to the high quality medicine that we have always provided.
Canine Rehabilitation At Animal Medical of New City
Dr. Lisa Schenkel, a long time veterinarian at Animal Medical of New City, has been a certified canine rehabilitation therapist since 2006 and has also recently completed certification in veterinary medical acupuncture at Colorado State University. According to Dr. Schenkel, there are many benefits resulting from the addition of physical medicine in the treatment of patients with certain conditions:
“Physical medicine offers a way to treat our patients with whole body care. As a complement to more traditional western modalities, it enhances our ability to relieve pain and restore maximal function in our patients. At Animal Medical of New City, we believe that quality of life of our patients is of utmost importance. I have been genuinely thrilled at the progress of some of my patients with the addition of physical medicine as part of their treatment plan. Furthermore, it allows our clients to actively participate in their pet’s healing process which not only has a positive influence on treatment outcome, but ultimately also strengthens the human-animal bond.”
Who Benefits?
When asked which patients are most likely to benefit from physical medicine, Dr. Schenkel replied with the following:
“Since the results are potentially so far reaching, I hesitate to restrict the use of physical medicine to just one or two specific conditions. However, in general, patients with pain and restricted mobility may benefit from the addition of physical medicine to their treatment plan. Examples of such conditions include patients recovering from surgery, especially orthopedic and neurologic surgeries, osteoarthritis, nonsurgical conditions such as tendonitis, muscle strains or back pain and chronic conditions such as obesity. In addition to treating the physical aspect of these conditions, we address the related stress and anxiety that our patients may be experiencing by providing therapy in a quiet soothing environment.”
For more information regarding physical medicine and how it may help your pet, please click here.