When dealing with physical rehabilitation in small-animal patients, what is the most significant challenge for general practitioners?
A. The knowledge and (lack of) education. To date, physical rehabilitation is not something that’s taught in veterinary schools to a large extent. In larger veterinary schools and even some smaller programs, students may be exposed to lectures on rehabilitation. But when you consider what is involved in obtaining a master’s in physical rehabilitation, you realize that a lot isn’t covered in the schools. I’ve had interest in animal rehabilitation since I was on faculty at Mississippi State back in 1991. I noticed that animals treated with rehabilitation modalities used at that time recovered better than what I was used to. In the 1950s and 1960s, if a football player tore his cruciate ligament, you may as well have considered his career nearly over. These days, it’s considered a treatment failure if the person doesn’t get back to function after such an injury. The same is true in the animal realm. Q. You have research interests in modulation of bone healing, osteoarthritis and postopera
