Four Paws Animal Rehabilitation

Posted by niyaohao14 on April 23rd, 2014

If you have worked out at a gym over the past 10-15 years, you will have noticed large inflatable balls being used as part of people’s exercise routines. First there were just a few, and now they are everywhere, popping up like colorful mushrooms. If you haven’t used them, you might wonder what they are for. The answer is low-impact exercise. The soft unstable balls require the exerciser to engage more muscles, especially “core” muscles in the course of their workout. Strong core muscles can take some of the load away from sore joints or muscles, improving our ability to move comfortably and reducing the risk of aggravating injuries. Ball exercises work the core without putting an undue amount of stress on the muscles, reducing the likelihood of being injured while exercising.

Most of the exercise we engage in with our pets is anything but low impact. We throw the ball or Frisbee, they leap through the air and tear across the yard, twisting and turning at high speed. We marvel at our dogs’ athleticism as we cringe at the stress they place on their bones and joints. Our dogs love it and we love to watch them having so much fun. Unfortunately, high impact exercise comes at a cost, which is increased risk of injury. So when a dog is trying to recover from an injury, we need to tone down the intensity of their exercise, while still maintaining a level of activity that promotes healing. This is the time for low impact.

Water provides an ideal medium for low impact exercise. Water’s buoyancy takes the weight and stress off of joints and bones while its density increases the work load on the muscles as a dog walks or swims. Swimming or walking in water is the ultimate low-impact exercise. But what should you do when it is cold and rainy and you don’t have an underwater treadmill? You can come to Four Paws for exercise on our treadmill, of course, but there are other options that are easy to do at home any time of the year, regardless of weather conditions.

Dogs can use exercise balls too! Just as it is for humans, ball exercise is a great way to improve a dog’s core strength. Here are a couple of simple ball exercises your dog should be able to do. Begin with an inflatable ball that is as tall as your dog’s back when standing normally. Sit down in a chair with the ball on the floor, holding the ball steady between your knees to keep it from rolling around. Get your dog’s favorite treat and entice him to put his front feet up on the ball in order to reach the treat. Keep him standing in this position by continuing to reward him with tiny bits of treat. As he gets comfortable, reduce the amount of stability your knees are giving to the ball and allow the ball to move around a little bit. Your dog will begin to engage his core muscles to hold the ball in place while he gets his treats. Five minutes of this is a good workout for the muscles of the abdomen and back, as well as for the hips and thighs.

If you have a smaller dog (or a really big ball) have your dog stand on the ball. We have special oblong inflatables we use for this, but round balls can work too. Be careful to support her so she can’t jump or fall off. Again, begin with the ball stabilized so it can’t move very much and gradually let the ball wobble around more as your dog’s balance improves. Eventually, you can teach her to sit, stand, turn around, and lie down while atop the ball.

We also use smaller doughnut-shaped inflatables in the same manner. Whatever you use, your dog will get some fun low-impact exercise that will improve their ability to withstand or recover from injury. If you are interested in learning more, contact Four Paws.

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