29/09/2026
THE PROBLEM WITH “QUICK FIXES”
I understand why they are appealing.
Your dog is stiff.
Your horse isn’t moving quite right.
Someone says:
“Try this treatment. It will stimulate the muscles.”
Or:
“This increases circulation.”
Or:
“This will reduce inflammation.”
And suddenly you’re offered a course of treatments.
But rehabilitation/maintenance even isn’t usually about fixing a problem in isolation.
If an animal has developed poor hindlimb recruitment, for example, simply stimulating a muscle doesn’t automatically teach the animal how to use that muscle effectively during movement.
If pain has caused compensation, removing some discomfort doesn’t automatically restore normal biomechanics.
If an animal has lost strength, creating a contraction doesn’t replace progressive strengthening.
If movement has become inefficient, passive treatment alone doesn’t teach the nervous system a better movement strategy.
A physiological effect isn’t the same thing as a functional outcome.
That’s why I am such a believer in combining appropriate hands-on or technology-based interventions with education and purposeful exercise.
We need to ask:
“What are we trying to change?”
And then:
“How are we going to teach the animal to maintain that change?”
That is rehabilitation.
Not simply treatment.
And sometimes the answer is frustratingly simple:
Time. Consistency. Appropriate loading. And patience.
