Hydro vs. Physio: What are the Differences?

We are often asked: “What is the difference between Physiotherapy and hydro therapy?” Even some vets don’t know they are different things! So here is a chat with Caroline Hill Of @cshydrophysio as she is both a hydro therapist and a physiotherapist so won’t be biased!

The Basics:

It may seem obvious but: Hydro is rehab done in water whereas physio is rehab done on land!

This means that hydro is non weight bearing, which can be beneficial and the warm water can be appealing to some animals!

There is different equipment used in both, depending on the individual techniques of the therapist.

Physio will usually send you home with a home work plan too, which obviously wouldn’t be possible for hydro, unless you own an appropriate pool! This means owners can be a bit more involved with physio, which may or may not work for an individual owner depending on time available to them etc!

We all work differently as we are all trained differently (this includes between physiotherapists and hydro therapist to hydro therapist – not just between physios and hydro therapists!) Generally physiotherapists will have done a higher level of training, but there are many varying courses so do feel free to look into this and ask questions. 

If you are unsure which to choose, phone a few and have a chat and find out what will work best for you.

“There’s no real right or wrong, just different views on how we might get the same result. You might take a different path, but as long as we get the same result and the idea is that the doggy gets better, it doesn’t matter how you get there”

Caroline Hill

Hydro therapy and physiotherapy work amazingly well teamed together, so both is a great option if you can. We know that a multimodal approach to rehab is ideal! This means there is never one best approach….there are different options that may work better for you and your patient with the ailments and individual needs that they have. So don’t be afraid to reach out and ask questions!

We absolutely love both and there are definite benefits to either option!

If you want to catch up on our past shows then catch up on our vlogs page. You can also watch our shows live on our facebook and youtube channels.

Enjoy the show! And if you want to nominate your vet or therapist to join Donna for an interview, then email [email protected] and we will do our best.