Williston Park Animal Hospital
Providing holistic, integrative veterinary medicine in Nassau County Long Island
Pet Physical Therapy
Improving mobility, reducing pain, and enhancing your pet’s quality of life using exercises and treatments that target their specific needs.
Pet physical therapy is a specialized treatment for pets that uses techniques like exercises, hydrotherapy, and manual therapy to improve mobility, relieve pain, and support recovery from injuries or surgeries, enhancing their overall well-being. Many of these treatments are non-surgical in nature, which can help your pet heal more naturally and comfortably without the need for invasive procedures or additional recovery time.
What are signs that your pet might benefit from physical therapy?
If your pet shows multiple signs from this list—or if the issues persist for more than a week or two—it’s worth consulting your veterinarian.
- Mobility and movement issues such as limping or favoring a limb, difficulty standing up or lying down or changes in how they walk
- Behavioral changes such as reduced active reduced activity levels, excessive licking or chewing, or whining and vocalizing especially when touched.
- Changes in posture and comfort like a hunched back or tucked tail, shifting their weight to one side when standing or reluctance to be petted.
- Post-Surgery or injury recovery that is not healing as quickly as expected or noticeable loss of muscle loss.
- Chronic Conditions like arthritis or joint disease.
- Age-related decline such as slower movements or difficulty with daily activities.
Underwater Treadmill / Hydrotherapy
We offer the only canine underwater treadmill in Nassau County Long Island! We love using hydrotherapy as it helps pets to recover faster from surgery and injuries. Why use water? Water resistance helps to increase muscle strength and help improve range of movement. The warmth of the water can relax muscle and ease joint pain. The bouyancy of the water will help support your pet’s weight as they heal from surgery or their injury. It is also great for pet weight loss as it uses more energy than a regular treadmill.
Land Treadmill
The land treadmill can be used for hill walking to help your pet strengthen their muscles and also to increase range of motion. It can also be used to help your pet’s athletic performance and training.
Fit Paws equipment
We have the Fitpaws line of equipment including the cavalleti’s, wobble board, discs and bones. This equipment is used to help your pet regain strength in the injured limb and supporting limbs; and also to develop core strength which benefits the entire body. There are many exercises which can be performed with this equipment to benefit the injured pet as well as to strengthen the canine athlete.
TENS/NMES
We have a TENS unit (transcutatneous electrical nerve stimulation) which helps for pain relief after injuries and surgery. We also have NMES or neuromuscular electrostimulation which can help with muscle atrophy and regaining muscle strength especially in patients with paralized limbs.
Therapeutic Ultrasound
Used for pain relief and to reduce inflammation, therapeutic ultrasound for pets helps to warm the tissue, increase circulation and help with healing. This modality can be used to increase the stretch in fibrous tissues like tendons to help with mobility. It can be used soften and break down scar tissue, decrease muscle spasms and can help wounds heal more quickly.
Acupuncture for Pets
Acupuncture is the stimulation of specific acupoints along the skin of the body involving various methods such as the application of heat, pressure, or laser or penetration of thin needles. It is a form of complementary and alternative medicine and a key component of traditional Chinese medicine TCVM. Pet acupuncture can treat a range of conditions, though is most commonly used for pain relief.
Let’s work together to create a customized physical therapy plan so your pet be as healthy and pain-free as possible!
Cold Laser Therapy
At Williston Park Animal Hospital we offer Class IV Laser therapy to help your pet heal without drugs or surgery. Laser therapy is scientifically proven to reduce inflammation and pain for both acute and chronic conditions by utilizing the body’s own healing powers. It can be used for everything from dental conditions, joint paint, skin conditions and more. Read more about cold laser therapy for pets & the full range of issues it can treat.
Massage & manual therapy
Massage and stretching are manual ways to help reduce tension in tight muscles and trigger points, improve circulation, improve mobility and flexibility and can help pets recover after injury or surgery.
Cryotherapy / Heat Therapy
Cryotherapy is a minimally invasive treatment for cats and dogs using controlled freezing to treat certain skin lesions and growths. It is commonly used in veterinary medicine to target and remove abnormal or unwanted tissue such as benign skin growths, skin tags, warts and some areas of abnormal tissue.
Heat therapy for pets is a therapeutic approach that uses warmth to increase blood circulation, relax muscles, and reduce pain, aiding in the management of conditions like arthritis and injuries.
Fitness for performance & show dogs
Our vet is experienced training and showing in American Kennel Club (AKC) obedience, agility and conformation and we can help your dog regain strength for top performance.
Whether or not you want to compete, obedience training is a great way to establish good communication skills between you and your dog. Obedience training features walking on-and-off leash, retrieval and jumping and staying which means your dog will be well-behaved whether at home or out in public.
Custom Orthotics – Braces, Wheelchairs & Prosthetics
For pets that would benefit from a wheelchair, such as dogs with IVDD or DM, we can have custom fittings created from Eddie’s Wheels to ensure a great fit for your pet and provide them with newfound freedom.
We also work with Hero Brace, Ortho Pets & 3D pets to provide non-surgical options such as custom braces for injuries like a torn ligament, ACL tears or other special needs; as well making custom prosthetics for tri-pod pets.
Spryng Joint Injections
For pets that suffer from joint pain or conditions that prevent them from bearing little to no weight on the affected limb, like ACL tears or Hip and Elbow Dysplasia, we offer non-surgical Spryng Injections. Spryng injections can offer long-lasting relief, with injections lasting from 9 months to a year. When injected into the affected joint, these injections create shock-absorption that mimics the body’s natural, healthy joint cartilage allowing more natural, pain-free movement.
Stem Cell Therapy
Stem cell therapy for pets is a relatively new field that can help treat a variety of conditions. Working with the company VetStem, we use stem cells that come from your pet’s own body tissue. The stem cells are used to promote healing and regeneration of tissues for a number of issues such as osteoarthritis and ligament and tendon issues.
Let’s work together to create a customized physical therapy plan so your pet be as healthy and pain-free as possible!
Online Services
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