The Truth about underwater treadmills
A common treatment used in canine rehabilitation for dogs with arthritis or recovering from surgery is the use of an underwater treadmill. The premise of the underwater treadmill is that the buoyancy of the water will decrease the effects of gravity and thus assist with gait training. The water height can be adjusted in relation to the patient—the higher the water level, the less body weight the patient uses. However, although its use could be beneficial in a minority of cases, the reality is that underwater treadmill is vastly over-used in the field of canine rehabilitation and, most of the time, dogs recover much better from injury or surgery without using an underwater treadmill in their rehabilitation program.
Here at Furever Strong K9 Rehab, we do not use the underwater treadmill as a form of treatment for several reasons as rehabilitation is much more than one modality of treatment, and underwater treadmill is just one small piece of the puzzle. Although useful with some patients, the underwater treadmill also has its pitfalls:
Pitfall 1: Lacks Progressive Loading
The underwater treadmill does not promote progressive overloading. The clinics who use it will often claim that it will help increase strength, both post-surgically and during the treatment of other musculoskeletal conditions. However, it is well known and researched in the field of human sports medicine that to add strength—and subsequently generate muscle growth—muscles and tendons need to be gradually loaded with progressive resistance. For example, when you go to the gym you don’t work on increasing your strength by using the treadmill, even if you adjust the incline level or adjust the speed. You do so with progressive loads by lifting weights or using your body weight for resistance (e.g., pull-ups, push-ups, etc.).
The same concept of strength building applies to canines. Is it possible to add some strength by using the underwater treadmill? Sure! Some muscle gain will be observed in patients who are severely deconditioned and whose main exercise is walking on the underwater treadmill. But those patients will also quickly hit a plateau and run the risk of developing overuse injuries due to the repetitive nature of simply walking for increasingly longer distances. Take, for example, a variety of “Couch to 5K” programs designed for humans: they all involve a combination of a walking/running program and a strength training program to help with injury prevention and long-term wellness.
Pitfall 2: Abnormal Gait
The second pitfall of the underwater treadmill is the promotion and progression of an abnormal gait. If a patient has an abnormal gait, for whatever reason that may be, it does not make sense to keep building endurance with that abnormal gait. A canine rehab therapist needs to first assess the patient to determine the reasons for why he or she has developed that abnormal gait, and then address those issues before building endurance in the underwater treadmill or even during a walking protocol at home. Could the underwater treadmill also be used to help correct an abnormal gait? Yes, in some instances it can. But to do so, the therapist would need to be inside the tank with his or her hands on the patient assisting to correct the gait pattern. Here at Furever Strong K9 we treat all of the movement dysfunctions a patient presents with treatment methods such as manual therapy, therapeutic exercise, massage, and laser therapy, just to name a few.
Pitfall 3: Not reproducible at home
Your pup may spend a total of 30 minutes standing in the tank but some of that time is water filling, emptying and rest breaks, not all is active movement. So what about the other 23.5 hours in the day, or the ther days in the week? The likelihood of you being able to purchase, store and maintain an underwater treadmill are very slim, which is understandable, it’s also not something we can bring in to your home for our sessions. We want to be able to provide you with activities that you can do daily, that is accessible to you and your pup, while helping them reach your goals.
This is not to say that the underwater treadmill doesn’t have its benefits and can’t be a part of a successful rehabilitation plan. The problem is that a rehab plan is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and the underwater treadmill is not a magic piece of equipment from which every patient will benefit. It can, and should be, used when appropriate for the patient. The reality, however, is that with the growth of the canine rehab field has come the overutilization of this modality of treatment. We hope that this information is helpful in understanding why our clinic does not use the underwater treadmill as a method of treatment.
