Hannah has trained extensively within her field, and has qualifications within three different professions:
Veterinary physiotherapy
McTimoney animal chiropractic
Equine sports massage.
Whilst there is inevitably some degree of overlap between them, these individual professions each have quite different skill sets when it comes to both assessment and treatment techniques. There is therefore truly no 'one size fits all' approach to Hannah's treatments, but instead she can select the most effective options(s) for your horse's problems from a very broad range. Following a thorough initial assessment, Hannah will use evidence-based knowledge and clinical reasoning to devise the best individual plan for your horse.
The overall aims of any treatment plan are usually to:
decrease any pain and discomfort found
restore/optimise freedom of movement
facilitate gains in strength, suppleness, and/or general fitness as required.
There are various different types of treatments Hannah can use to achieve these aims, each of which will have slightly different effects within the tissues. 1. Manual therapies - these are skilled treatments performed quite literally 'by hand' which include:
Massage - sports, stress and trigger point therapy, soft tissue mobilisation
Stretching
Myofascial release
2. Electrotherapies - these are treatments performed using machines, which include:
LASER therapy
TENS
Electrical muscle stimulation (H-wave and NMES)
Pulsed electromagnetic therapy
Therapeutic ultrasound
3. Remedial exercise programmes and management advice:
Animal physiotherapists are experts in knowing what exercises to use to combine with other forms of treatment to get the best results at every stage of rehabilitation or to help improve performance. Advice can be given regarding the available evidence behind various training and proprioceptive aids that are available (their pro's/con's and potential applications depending on your individual circumstances), and certain techniques like kinesiotaping might be used to help modify movement patterns. Sometimes simple management changes can further help to optimise recovery for your horse. Advice can also be given on general fitness regimes, warming up and cooling down, peaking and tapering strategies etc. to help reduce the risk of potential injuries and maximise your horse's performance.
To discover more about how Hannah works, please just contact her to discuss any particular problems your horse might be experiencing and how she might be able to help you.
