Recovery of Spinal Walking in Paraplegic Dogs Using Physiotherapy and Supportive Devices to Maintain the Standing Position

Spinal cord injuries (SCI) in dogs have become increasingly common and most are caused by trauma or discal hernia (intervertebral disc disease). The main objective of our study was to demonstrate that physiotherapy and assisted gait in supportive devices to maintain the standing position may help paraplegic dogs to develop spinal walking. Of 60 paraplegic dogs without deep pain in the hindlimbs, 35 (58.33%) developed spinal walking.

• 1
  After 125 to 320 physiotherapy sessions (25 to 64 weeks), 35 dogs (58.33%) developed SW and were able to walk without falling or falling sometimes in the case of a quick look
• 2
  Statistically significant differences were observed only for weight, p = 0.0085. The no spinal walking group was constituted of dogs with a higher weight, which may suggest the fact that the chances of recovering spinal walking are greater in dogs with a lower weight.
• 3
  Regaining reflectivity is an important step in the automatic development of SW.