Laurie's Blogs.

 

19
Aug 2023

Physiotherapists in Primary Care: Enhancing Wellness and Mobility

Laurie Edge-Hughes, BScPT, MAnimSt, CAFCI, CCRT, Cert. Sm. Anim. Acup / Dry Needling

 When we think about primary care for our animals, the first professionals that often come to mind are veterinarians and veterinary technicians/nurses.  Rightfully so, when it comes to any sort of a medical issue.  However, there could be another essential player i...
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11
Aug 2023

Piriformis Syndrome in Dogs… and the can of worms it opens up!

Laurie Edge-Hughes, BScPT, MAnimSt, CAFCI, CCRT, Cert. Sm. Anim. Acup / Dry Needling

 There is one paper that discussed piriformis syndrome in dogs.  Rather, it discusses findings in 29 dogs with suspected sciatic neuritis.1It was a retrospective study of cases that received diagnostic ultrasound over the gluteal region in a 2-year period at a veterinar...
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05
Aug 2023

PEMF and Osteoarthritis

Laurie Edge-Hughes, BScPT, MAnimSt, CAFCI, CCRT, Cert. Sm. Anim. Acup / Dry Needling

 A friend notified me to a paper on PEMF and dogs.   Here’s the title citation… Sprunks TE, McLeod KJ, Staelin R.  Pulsed Shortwave Electromagnetic Field Therapy Increases Quality of Life in Canines with Symptoms of Osteoarthritis. ...
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29
Jul 2023

Bilateral Cruciate Disease – 4 articles in 4 minutes or less!

Laurie Edge-Hughes, BScPT, MAnimSt, CAFCI, CCRT, Cert. Sm. Anim. Acup / Dry Needling

 Here are a few interesting studies about cruciate disease that I thought I’d share in one nice and tidy blog post!  And GO! 1.  Prevalence of bilateral meniscal tears was 48.0% in dogs that underwent staged or bilateral TPLO surgeries.  Breed (spec...
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23
Jul 2023

A Short Little Lesson on Nitric Oxide

Laurie Edge-Hughes, BScPT, MAnimSt, CAFCI, CCRT, Cert. Sm. Anim. Acup / Dry Needling

  Nitric Oxide*NO 1992 Molecule of the Year What’s up with this little gem of a molecule?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  Firstly, Nitric Oxide is a free radical.  This means it has an unpaired electron.  We’re usually to...
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15
Jul 2023

Thoraco-lumbar and lumbar disc herniations do not cause front leg lameness

Laurie Edge-Hughes, BScPT, MAnimSt, CAFCI, CCRT, Cert. Sm. Anim. Acup / Dry Needling

 This time, I figured, I’d put the punch line right in the title!   Here’s the story.  A university classmate of mine reached out to me about her friends dog and wondered if I could help or point her in the right direction. I said, “Sure...
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08
Jul 2023

Mice, Tendinopathy, and Which Kind of Exercise is Best?

Laurie Edge-Hughes, BScPT, MAnimSt, CAFCI, CCRT, Cert. Sm. Anim. Acup / Dry Needling

 I read a very interesting paper recently:  Fast, non-eccentrically loaded exercise worsens tendinopathic healing responses in a murine modelOkay, so the whole title gives away the final summation, but bear with me, as it’s interesting never the less! The Gis...
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04
Jul 2023

Therapies Directed Towards the Disc

Laurie Edge-Hughes, BScPT, MAnimSt, CAFCI, CCRT, Cert. Sm. Anim. Acup / Dry Needling

 A Facebook comment came about from a previous blog post – http://fourleg.com/Blog?b=625 It made mention of x-rays not specifically showing the disc itself, about the difference between chondrodystrophic and non-chondrodystrophic disc degeneration, and specif...
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24
Jun 2023

Fatty Muscles

Laurie Edge-Hughes, BScPT, MAnimSt, CAFCI, CCRT, Cert. Sm. Anim. Acup / Dry Needling

 I remember back in the day when it was said, “you can’t turn fat into muscle”.   You had to lose fat and gain muscle.  The two were different substances.  While that’s still true, it doesn’t account for the infiltration of f...
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17
Jun 2023

Chondrodysplasia, Chondrodystrophy, and Genetic Testing

Laurie Edge-Hughes, BScPT, MAnimSt, CAFCI, CCRT, Cert. Sm. Anim. Acup / Dry Needling

Without getting into any patient details, let’s just say that this blog is based off of a case that presented to my clinic.  The dog has had surgery for a Hansen’s type 1 disc and the owner  has learned about the genetic test for chondrodysplasia and is quit...
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