Laurie's Blogs.

Mental Stimulation During Recovery and Rehab

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

This week I received an email question that, after answering, I thought, “This would actually make a fantastic blog!” The question, in a nutshell, was “What would you suggest to help a young active dog recovering from elbow arthroscopy who is la...

04
Jan 2025

Research into Effleurage

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

To go with this week’s Four Leg Rehab Minute, I decided to do a bit of a dive into the research around effleurage massage. This is what I found! Monteiro Rodrigues L, Rocha C, Ferreira HT, Silva HN. Lower limb massage in humans increases local perfusion and impac...

28
Dec 2024

Percussion Massage Before Exercise

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

It is known that static stretching prior to exercise can inhibit athletic performance. (Check out my article in FourLeg Member’s section on Stretching and Injury Prevention). Have you wondered about percussion massage and how that affects performance? Of course ...

21
Dec 2024

Boxer’s Knuckles in Dogs

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

Have you heard of Boxer’s Knuckles? I have to admit, I had never heard of it. I guess, I never treated any Boxers when I was treating people. According to the Orlando Hand Surgery Associates1, it is defined as follows:"Boxer’s Knuckle is an injury th...

14
Dec 2024

Treat the Compensations

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

I believe that when we are given challenges, we are meant to learn from them. Another way of putting this, is ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade’. Blah, blah, blah… but seriously my ankle is still bothering me, and by the time I publish this...

07
Dec 2024

Lifestyle Modification And Exercise For Osteoarthritis

Another research article crossed my path recently and it got me to thinking about this topic – lifestyle modification and exercise. This particular article was a systematic review… and I’m just going to hop to the conclusion. “This systematic r...

30
Nov 2024

Reducing Cortisol with Manual Therapy

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

I came across another interesting paper recently.Farrell G, Reily-Bell M, Chapple C, et al. Autonomic nervous system and endocrine system response to upper and lower cervical spine mobilization in healthy male adults: a randomized crossover trial. J Man Manip Ther. 2023 Dec;31(6)...

23
Nov 2024

Communication Pitfalls – 15 Reasons Why You’re Client’s Don’t Know What You’re Thinking!

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

Have you ever had one of those experiences where you came to learn (after the fact) that your client didn’t come away from your assessment / treatment session with the information about what you thought their dog’s diagnosis was? I’ve experienced it, as a ...

16
Nov 2024

The Placenta and Orthopaedic Medicine

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

Picture sourced from: Biswas A, et al. Human placenta/umbilical cord derivatives in regenerative medicine - Prospects and challenges. Biomater Sci. 2023 Jul 12;11(14):4789-4821. This blog is just a little bit, “Things that make you go, Hmm.” A c...

09
Nov 2024

Are cross-bred dogs healthier?

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

This blog is a short and sweet review of a recent research paper. Bryson GT, O’Neill DG, Brand CL, Belshaw Z, Packer RMA (2024). The doodle dilemma: How the physical health of ‘Designer-crossbreed’ Cockapoo, Labradoodle and Cavapoo dogs’ compares to t...