Land Treadmill / IVG Hospitals

Land Treadmill

This service is available at:
Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital
Port City Veterinary Referral Hospital

How do you use a land treadmill when working with patients?
Most of us have seen or used a land treadmill. The land treadmill is used to improve gait characteristics and to promote weight bearing following surgery. The treadmill challenges balance, sense of leg position and coordination for the patient, thereby helping to normalize hip and knee range of motion.

The treadmill moves beneath the patient, extending the hindlimbs farther than a painful patient would given a normal walking environment. If the patient has sustained an injury to either the hip or the knee, or has had surgery to either joint the land treadmill can be especially useful. In order to avoid pain, animals, as with people, will adjust their gait characteristics to compensate;

Prompting the patients use the joints and limbs in question help normalize gait and return the animal to full function.