How can Clinical Massage help your dog?

Dogs benefit from massage in just the same way that their owners do. It’s ideal for easing muscular pain and resolving soft tissue injuries which, left unresolved, can lead to harder to treat problems that can often make your dog old before their time. Clinical Massage can be a very good way of maintaining and improving mobility and posture, and comfort levels in dogs that have orthopaedic conditions (such as, arthritis and hip dysplasia), soft tissue injuries (such as, sprains and strains), and neurological conditions (such as intervertebral disc disease). 

If your dog shows any of these signs then Clinical Massage is highly likely to help:

  • Stiffness

  • Soreness

  • Unable or struggling to go up or down stairs

  • Unable or struggling to get in or out of car

  • Unable or struggling to jump onto sofa or bed

  • Mobility issues

  • Withdrawn, quieter or isolating themselves

  • Lost their ‘sparkle’

  • Depression

  • Reluctant to be groomed

  • Posture changes

  • Struggling to sit, lie down or stand

  • Difficulty sleeping, or increased sleeping

  • Coat changes or flicks

  • Uneven nail wear

  • Skin twitches or “tickly” areas

  • Old before their time

  • Unwilling to go for walks, or inability to walk as far as before

  • Back, neck, or hip issues

  • Performance issues, e.g., pole knocking, measuring, early onset fatigue.

Conditions that benefit from clinical massage orthopaedic

Clinical massage can help improve the symptoms of orthopaedic disease by easing sore, tight muscles that are attached to these areas of bony dysfunction.

Some examples of orthopaedic conditions include:

  • Osteoarthritis

  • Hip and elbow dysplasia

  • Luxating patella

  • Spondylosis

  • Osteochondrosis dessicans.

Soft tissue injuries are one of the most common injuries seen in the dog. They can occur at any time, and can result from activities such as jumping, twisting, slipping, chasing after a ball, boisterous play, agility, and repetitive, unhealthy motions. 

Injuries to muscles or ligaments may result in scar tissue formation. The scar tissue forms a tough restrictive band of tissue that weakens the tissue and reduces its ability to function correctly. Clinical massage can re-model the scar tissue and help improve healing rates. It can also improve elasticity by improving the flexibility of the muscle surrounding the scar tissue.

Examples of soft tissue issues include:

  • Muscle strains

  • Ligament sprains or tears, for example, of the cruciate ligament

  • Myofascial Pain

  • Trigger points

  • Myalgia

  • Hyper- or hypo-tonicity

Massage may also be beneficial in aiding the treatment and management of neurological problems such as:

  • Intervertebral disc disease

  • Degenerative myopathy

  • Muscle spasms

The 5 principles of pain

Dogs are very good at hiding pain, and you may not know your dog is in pain until it has become too much for them to conceal any longer.

The Canine Massage Guild have put together a useful chart, ‘The 5 principles of pain’, to help owners assess for sub-clinical signs of pain, meaning pain and discomfort may be addressed sooner.

The chart can be downloaded here on The Canine Massage Guild page.

Five principles of pain