When I walked up to her door, Kizzy’s Mum came out and said “I know you”. Indeed she did. This was Alison, the person who taught me all about human massage way back in 1996/97 at City College Brighton. Here was someone who gave me my qualifications TWENTY years ago and now here I was helping her with massage therapy. Spooky. How the world turns.
After a quick “Goodness…what have you been up to?” and twenty year catch up, I was introduced to the adorable frisky Kizzy - a 4 year old Parson Jack Russell/Springer Spaniel cross (yes….THAT frisky). She immediately showed me how much she loves to bounce and play and lick while hiding her right rear leg.
She has become quite clever at hiding the point of issue while just getting on with being Kizzy. But that is what dogs do. Alison is a trained professional human physical therapist but was looking at Kizzy as a parent/guardian rather than through her trained therapist eyes. Once she could see how Kizzy was compensating with her gait and how she felt, she knew how to help.
Kizzy had been diagnosed as suffering from a probable luxating patella on her right rear leg, but of low grade currently. Alison was advised to look for physiotherapy as first treatment, keeping any surgical intervention as a later option.
Despite Kizzy having a therapist as a Mum, she took a while to accept massage. However, after 30 minutes or so, I asked Alison to feel where I was working and Kizzy looked round to her as though to say “Erm, no Mum…..Dr Les can do it thank you”. Oh, how the world turns! But soon Mum will be as good as me.
Between Kizzy and I, we identified several places on her body where she needs and wants massage which Mum now has to do, plus some simple gentle weight-bearing and stretching exercises to build up the muscles and mobility of her rear right leg. Hopefully, we can help her regain her confidence in using that leg and start walking comfortably again.
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