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Physical therapy is a crucial part of any dog arthritis treatment program. But helping your dog get the exercise he needs doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, you can dance your dog back to good health and you don’t have to get dressed up and go to a club. You can do it all right in your home or back yard.
Dog dancing is fun, for you and your dog, but it’s also a legitimate form of dog physical therapy. This is particularly true if your dog has arthritis in his hind legs. You might be surprised to find that your dog actually enjoys dancing.
Here’s why dog dancing is good dog arthritis physical therapy
- It helps their ability to bear weight on their hind legs
- It helps build muscle mass
- It helps improve your dog’s balance
Here’s how it works:
Weight Bearing
Dog dancing helps your dog bear more weight on his hind legs by increasing the pressure on the hind leg joints. As these joints work harder, they get stronger. Of course, if your dog has hind leg arthritis, dog dancing may be painful initially. So take it slow and don’t overdo it. As time goes by, you can increase the time and dancing intensity as your dog develops more hind leg strength.
Increasing Muscle Mass
When you dance with your dog, his hind leg muscles have to work harder to support his weight, and working muscle groups is what makes them stronger. This is especially good dog arthritis therapy for the muscles around the hip and knee joints. These muscle groups support those joints and help protect them from excessive wear and tear, as well as helping prevent the joints from slipping sideways.
Improved Balance
Since dogs don’t naturally dance, or walk on their hind legs for that matter, your dog has to concentrate in order to keep from losing his balance. As you move through the dance steps, he learns to anticipate the movements and move along with you.
The more you dance with your dog, the better he’ll be at it, and the faster he’ll begin to recover from the pain of dog arthritis.
Physical therapy can be a very important dog arthritis treatment… and can also be a bit of fun! Dancing with your dog can serve a genuine purpose as a form of physical therapy – especially for hind limb . Many people take dog dancing very seriously and participate in canine freestyle – dog dancing routines with your dog! You don’t need to go to classes, all you need to do at home is have some fun and get some meaningful exercise for yourself and your dog. Take note of how your dog reacts – some think your crazy, some will bark and sing, others will hold their paws out in readiness for the dance ahead.
As part of a physical therapy program, dog dancing should aim to improve:
- Improve weight bearing
- Increase muscle mass
- Improve balance
Improve Weight Bearing
Dog dancing helps to improve weight bearing. Standing on the back legs will load the hind limb joints which can be a helpful exercise for dogs with hind limb arthritis. Take things slowly and not for too long to start with or your dog
may get sore.
Increase Muscle Mass
If your dog is using his legs the muscle mass will increase to cope with the increased workload. This is helpful because the more muscles there are around the joints (especially the hip and knee joints) the more the joints are stabilised and protected from excessive loading and wear. This is the same for ourselves and a big reason why physiotherapy is important after our surgeries.
Improve Balance
Dog dancing is not exactly natural for our furry friends (nor for people like myself!). It takes concentration and the improvement of skills such as balance to be able to dance like a doggy Fred Astaire. With practice they can improve their balance and this in turn is a great help for their dog arthritis treatment.
