✨ Pablo’s Elbow Dysplasia Journey – How we decreased lameness✨

Meet Pablo, a fun-loving 4-year-old who suddenly developed lameness after his usual long walks. Concerned,

his owners went straight to the vets, where a CT scan confirmed the diagnosis of elbow dysplasia.

Eager to help, his owners started him on other therapies, they were disheartened to see little improvement. That’s when Pablo’s vet recommended trying physiotherapy – and everything began to change.

🐾 What life looked like before physiotherapy

• Pablo was going on hour-long lead walks every day (too much for his condition).

• After walks, he would take himself off to bed – very unusual for him.

• Getting up after rest was difficult, and he showed obvious signs of discomfort.

• Despite the lameness, he was still running and jumping like a playful pup – which was making things worse.

🐾 Our treatment plan

We needed to reduce stress on the joints, ease his pain, and support his muscles. Here’s what we did:

✔️ Exercise management – Switched to shorter, structured walks: 2 x 30 minutes on-lead daily. Off-lead play was restricted until his joints had settled.

✔️ Exercise Prescription – We introduced a tailored exercise program to build muscle and keep joints mobile.

✔️ Massage therapy – To release compensatory muscle tension, reduce soreness, and improve joint mobility. It was clear he was compensating in his hind legs too.

✔️ Laser therapy – To reduce inflammation, relieve pain, promote healing, and increase synovial fluid production.

✔️ Ongoing medication – Continued as prescribed by his vet during the early stages.

✔️ Lifestyle changes – His memory foam bed was swapped for a supportive orthopaedic bed. We layered the memory foam on top for comfort – the perfect combo!

🐾 Progress over time

2 weeks in – Pablo was brighter and more sociable. With his vet’s guidance, he was able to come off pain medication. Only one lameness episode occurred (after a sneaky garden zoomie!). Walks: 2 x 30 minutes on-lead daily.

4 weeks in – We started a tailored exercise program to help build muscle and keep joints mobile. We trialled adding 10 minutes off-lead within his walks, but this caused a flare-up, so we returned to 2 x 30 minutes on-lead daily only.

8 weeks in – With consistent treatment, Pablo responded well to small amounts of off-lead activity. Walks were increased to 2 x 35 minutes daily, with short controlled off-lead bursts added.

11 weeks in – Huge milestone! Pablo could comfortably manage 30–45 minutes twice daily on-lead walks. His owners introduced some off-lead trotting (not running) – 20 minutes in the morning and 1 hour in the evening – with no lameness afterwards.

🌟 Where Pablo is now

Pablo is on a maintenance plan, with monthly physiotherapy sessions to keep him comfortable, strong, and active. As he continues to progress, these may be spaced to every 6–8 weeks. His owners are now confident in managing his condition day-to-day, and Pablo is back to enjoying life with his family.

💡 Key Lessons from Pablo’s Rehab

-          Consistency is key.

-          Joints that are inflamed take time to settle down.

-          Managing your dog correctly is one of the best forms of treatment, you just need to know how (that’s where we can help you).

-          Treating compensatory tension makes your dog move better and helps the condition all round.

-          Let’s not forget the importance of effective pain relief during rehabilitation.

-          Rehab isn’t always straight forward, flare ups happen along the way

Pablo will always have elbow dysplasia, but with the right management, he’s living a full, happy life 🐶💙