Post-surgery physical therapy for dogs!

Did you know that implementing physical therapy for dogs immediately following orthopedic surgeries can decrease the recovery time, minimize pain, and result in better outcomes?  It's true! 

It's an outdated practice (but unfortunately, still a very common practice) to immobilize the joint/leg with a thick pressure bandage following cruciate repairs, for example.  Veterinarians use the bandage to reduce swelling to the area, prevent the dog from licking at the incision, to "protect" the joint from moving in an undesirable way (and thereby damaging the surgical repair).  But, there are down sides to the bandage.  I have worked with too many dogs to count who started with the bandage and by the time I convinced the vet to remove them (sometimes a day or two after surgery, sometimes longer), the legs were more painful and had lost range of motion (as compared to dogs that never had a bandage put on in the first place).  And guess what?  The dogs that I have treated post-cruciate repair (without a bandage) didn't damage their repairs or have too much swelling.  In the bandage-free dogs, I kept their range of motion good by starting the ROM either the day of or the first day following surgery.  I found that this decreases the pain level too.  I noticed a BIG difference in pain and irritability to touching the leg between these two groups of dogs.  Overall, I vote for no bandage every time!  If your dog needs a cruciate repair, consider asking your surgeon to leave off the bandage and begin ROM, icing, and weight-bearing exercises the day following surgery!