When Simon appeared on Cuppa Tea With the Vet, he gave a great answer regarding what he loves about physio. He spoke about how it can be almost more important to the success of an animal getting better than the original surgery. See his full answer below:

What Simon Loves About Physio!

Well, yeah, I think it is very important and completely overlooked. I have to say in the training of that, certainly in my experience (which is, you know, over 15 years ago now) but tended to be obsessed with bones and joints. But we’re not very good at worrying about the muscles around them. And I’m creaking a bit in my old age now, and I’m going to the physio quite a lot. And I think we completely underestimate the effect of physiotherapy on animals and it should be done much more, even if there’s nothing wrong with your animal they can benefit from it. But yes, in my world, doing complex surgery: physio is, you know, a big part of the rehab. And the success obviously, often of your actual surgery can hinge on the rehab as opposed to the actual surgery that you’ve done.

It’s no coincidence that all the big referral centres now: Fitzpatrick, the super vet and all the big referral centres around us: the Ralph and Hamilton referrals, they all have in-house, physiotherapy and hydrotherapy and they take it really seriously…

But also, like I said, any will animal benefit. But I think in older animals, the veterinary profession is obsessed by giving out arthritic medication. And we’re getting better at that using safe medication and better combinations and medication. But we’re not very good at helping with the muscle support. And if you’ve got if you’ve got bony arthritis, but you have strong muscles around those joints, then they’re much better off if you’ve got bony arthritis, and then you allow the muscles to waste away because they’re not doing enough exercise. They’re not keeping strength that then you really get in a downward spiral. So yeah, I think it’s really important and massively undervalued at the moment.

Simon’s Biography:

Simon Ratcliffe is a dairy farmer’s son from Cheshire. He runs Kelperland Vets in Maidenhead, Berkshire with his wife Camilla.

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