1st Hydrotherapy session

Wednesday 21st February 2007

Were all a bit excited, so much so that even Dad comes with us.

Arrive at Arthurshiels for Bracken's first treatment in the Hydrotherapy pool.

I let Tom know about the call from the Vet and ask his advise about her going for acupuncture, after all I wouldn't want the acupuncture to undo any good that the acupressure and hydrotherapy do. Tom advises that this will be OK, the more treatment the better. The acupressure that Tom gives Bracken is similar to the acupuncture only acupuncture can sometimes aggravate any pain she may be in. He asks me to call him tomorrow night once we have been to let him know how she is.

Bracken's a bit unsure about it all, Shona relaxes bracken and prepares her for the pool loading her into the sling on the hoist. As you can see in this picture, Bracken's right paw is turned inwards due to the Paralysis of the leg.

Tom then raised Bracken on the hoist and lowered her into the pool.

Tom asks us all the relevant questions about Bracken's accident to establish where the actual damage to the radial nerve has occurred. We always assumed based on the consultations at the Vets that the damage to the nerve was in her leg, How wrong to assume.....!

Tom got to work on Bracken, Stretching, Massaging and Pulling and very quickly established that the damage to the nerve was not actually in the leg but was more associated with her neck. She was able to turn her neck one way but had a more limited movement the other.

There was a lot of swelling to the neck and Tom advised that she has most probably pulled the muscles in her neck in turn trapping the nerve. He then went to work on the neck, massaging and stretching.

Here Tom works on the neck to release the trapped nerve and reduce the swelling using acupressure.

By the end of this session, Bracken seems more relaxed and pain free. Its sounds strange, but she seemed to have a bit of her personality back, she didn't look as sorry for herself and I think she knows we are trying to help her ;-)