Effect of Physical Therapy Program After Surgical Correction of Medial Patellar Luxation in Small Breed Dogs

Physical therapy, especially after surgery, is very important to improve or maintain the quality of patient's life. Nowadays, it still have limited knowledge about physical therapy, especially post-surgical correction of patellar luxation which common seen in small breed dogs. This study aimed to compare the effects of physical therapy program in small breed dogs after surgical correction of patellar luxation. 20-MPL-Chihuahua (n=15) and Pomeranian (n=5) dogs were enrolled in this study with both genders, age 1 to 7 years old and body condition score of 3/5. Post-operative period the patients were randomly allocated into 2 groups. Ten animals were in experimental group, which received the physical therapy program with anti-inflammatory medication. The others were in control group, which received only NSAIDs medication. Physical therapy program consisted of cryotherapy, neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), passive range of motion (PROM), stretching, and weight shifting exercise. Muscle circumference, range of motion, and gait analysis by force platform system were evaluated in pre-surgical and post-surgical period as well as the first, second, fourth, sixth and eighth weeks. The results of this study showed significant increased muscle circumference and weight bearing force in experimental group better than control group. The trend of both extended and flexed ROM of experimental group was better than the control group, but not statistically significant improvement. In conclusion, the multimodal physical therapy techniques together with NSAIDs were the main factor to improve muscle mass and weight bearing after surgical correction of MPL in small breed dogs.