18 BONDED CLIENT / Leaping to Rehab
In addition to getting trained and certified and adhering to the AARV’s standards, those offering veterinary
rehabilitation
services need to be aware of the laws regarding physical
therapy and
rehabilitation in their state.
class IV lasers can cause harm or damage if not used properly. Just because some- one owns rehabilitation equipment does not make him or her a proper rehabili- tation therapist or facility. An example I use is that as a veterinarian, I am capable and it is legal for me to perform surgery, but just because I own a scalpel, it does not mean I am a surgeon.” According to the AARV, the Canine
Rehabilitation Institute, University of Tennessee and Healing Oasis Center in Wisconsin currently offer training in ani- mal rehabilitation for veterinarians and veterinary technicians. Van Dyke noted in the aforementioned article that 17 vet- erinary colleges offer canine rehabilita- tion in a clinical setting. Dennis Woodruff, DVM, CCRT, owner
of AAHA-accredited Avondale Veterinary Healthcare Complex in Des Moines, Iowa, decided to get trained in canine rehabili- tation after one of his veterinary techni- cians expressed interest in the field. “Angella Moore came to me and said
she thought we should be doing more rehabilitation. She said, ‘I’m really inter- ested.’ I said, ‘Great, you should go for it.’ It turned out that in order to go through the Canine Rehabilitation Institute, she had to go through it with a veterinarian, so I went through it with her.” Woodruff and Moore took three trips
to Florida for courses to get certified in canine rehabilitation. The certification for veterinarians is certified canine reha- bilitation therapist (CCRT), and the certi- fication for technicians is certified canine rehabilitation assistant (CCRA). Although the certification applies to
dogs, experts say rehabilitation also works with cats. “My practices routinely work with cats and have even had cats use ther- apy in the underwater treadmill, although this is not very common,” LoGiudice said. In addition to getting trained and cer-
tified and adhering to the AARV’s stan- dards, those offering veterinary reha- bilitation services need to be aware of the laws regarding physical therapy and rehabilitation in their state.
According to Van Dyke’s article, “The
terms Physical Therapy and Physiother- apy are protected terms in all 50 states. This means that only licensed physical therapy professionals can use these terms to describe their practice. It is important to remember that jurisdiction of this issue is handled by individual states. Anyone wishing to add rehabilitation to their vet- erinary practice should review both the veterinary and the physical therapy prac- tice acts for their state.”
Who’s a good candidate? Rehabilitation specialists point out that the field is not for everyone. “It’s difficult coursework. You have
to have a lot of knowledge,” Woodruff said. “I’d been out of school for 35 years. Going back and learning the muscles and nerve supply and that sort of thing was somewhat of a daunting task.” Woodruff hired Christie Carlo, DVM,
CCRT, in 2009 to manage the rehabilitation side of the practice (which she does with two certified rehabilitation technicians). “I was looking for a different type
of practice; Dr. Woodruff told me what he wanted to do with rehab, and he approached me to come in as an associ- ate,” Carlo said. “When I was back in regular practice, I
would have patients coming in with pain and give them a medication, but I had no other skills to help those patients,” she said. “Now, I can offer massage therapy or lasers, or do therapeutic exercises. It opened up the amount of things we can do for these patients to improve their quality of life.” “Dr. Carlo is better at [rehabilitation]
than I am. I’m a better surgeon,” Wood- ruff said. What are the traits of a good rehabili- tation therapist? “Someone who likes to learn continu-
ally,” Carlo said, echoing Woodruff’s statement about difficult coursework, “and someone with ‘good hands.’” “The main thing you need is your hands—to diagnose the problem with
Trends magazine, November 2012
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