Laurie's Blogs.

So, firstly, I have to say that the STAAR Conference is the most fun and most educational canine rehab conference that you could ever plan to attend!  This year was no exception!  Already there have been so many e-mails and posts about the fabulous time had, and what struck me was how many of the dog-volunteer-owners were right in on it being so appreciative of having their dogs participate!

So, as an instructor, I get very little time to see anyone else’s workshop, but what I can tell you about are some of the interesting cases I saw!

One of my workshops was entitled Interactive Case Management – What is it now and what do you do?  Maybe that was a bad title.  Anyways, it was a really fun workshop.  It was a short lecture (assessment tips, goal setting tips, treatment tips) and then we have a number of dogs come in – some for me to assess in front of everyone, and some that everyone had the chance to assess.  Great on the spot learning!

One case was a fascinating little dog – history of being brought into rescue unable to stand, and taken in by a very determined couple.  He’d undergone rehab and can now walk on is own, but this little fellow was the ‘wonkiest’ little thing I’ve ever seen.  He was ataxic in all four limbs, had a strange head bobble, and legs that just seemed to be screwed in wrong!  So the first place I wanted to look was at his neck.  His upper cervical spine to be exact!  There are tests that can be done to test the alar ligaments, transverse ligament of the dens, and integrity of the dens (odontoid process).  I was very careful, in fact, I didn’t test these structures looking for the typical signs, instead I just assessed for resistance within the range that I would expect to feel resistance.  Well, let’s just say that I don’t think that this dog has a full dens or perhaps there’s laxity in all of his little ligaments.  He’s doing great though, and I hope that his therapist will keep me updated!

Another case was a pit bull that had been rescued from a dog-fighting ring (he was a bait dog and had notable scarring over his neck).  His owner had noted that he had had surgeries for bilateral patellar luxations, but that his rear end weakness seemed to be progressive.  Additionally, there was an account of this dog having troubles and being panicky when he would lie on his side or roll on his back – seeming to be unable to get his feet under him.  On evaluation, his neck and back were unremarkable, and one therapist did some craniosacral work on his cranium, and he has been in the massage class where they did some scar massage / mobilization, both of which seemed to help a bit.  Since his issues seemed to be localized to his brain, and his strange behaviour when on his back seemed to implicate his vestibular system, we decided to try the Dix-Hallpike Maneuver to see if we could ‘set off’ some nystagmus and/or trigger the vestibular system.  Well, ‘hot dang’, we set him up, flipped him back onto me, and ‘voila!’ Nystagmus!  So, with this dog, his history does not really indicate the ‘otolith’ theory as being the root of the issue, but rather a processing disorder.  And while I’m not an expert in vestibular rehab, I was able to provide some ideas for home therapy for this dog, but better yet, there was a local therapist (who specialized in human vestibular rehab) at the conference that was going to be able to offer some more detailed treatment advisement.  So exciting!  Again, I’m hoping to be updated on that case as well!

In the spine courses, we saw many dogs with axial skeleton dysfunctions that were helped with manual therapy.  And, owners that were ecstatic for their dogs to be receiving treatment.

In my Hip Dysplasia Workshop, we saw a 9-week old puppy with hip pain (already!!!) – likely from playing too rough, and a number of old dogs with hip arthritis.  Everyone was given some treatment and advisement.

And lastly, in the Business & Marketing round table, we had a great discussion on creating a multi-step plan for marketing to your referring veterinarians.  (It’ll make a great FourLeg audio one day!)

All in all, it was a really fun & fabulous conference!  Thanks to everyone that attended and I hope to see even more of you next year!

Until next time… Cheers!