You know that feeling you get after having a massage? Your body feels relaxed from head to toe, your brain is mush, and that ache or pain you had an hour ago seems to have disappeared miraculously. But, that feeling you are experiencing isn’t just for humans; dogs feel it too.
Canine Massage Therapy is a form of complementary bodywork that provides a wide range of physical and psychological benefits for your dog.
So why have so many pet parents either not heard of the practice or tried it out? Many haven’t heard of it.
So read on to learn more and allow us to introduce to you what is and what are the benefits of Canine Massage Therapy.
What Is Canine Massage Therapy?
Massage is the manipulation of the body’s soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet, or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain.
Physical Benefits of Canine Massage Therapy
Pain Management
Massage therapy is often used to help relieve pain by relaxing muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints by stimulating competing nerve fibers and impending pain messages to and from the brain.
After a long day of activity, dogs’ bodies can become sore and stiff, especially if overworked. Massaging these areas will help relax those areas and help them recover by stimulating circulation, increasing blood supply to joints, and helping to alleviate discomfort.
Improves Mobility
Massage helps improve a dog’s mobility and flexibility and helps to restore their natural movement or gait. In addition, massage can enhance weight-bearing on all four limbs, whether your pet is experiencing lameness, limping, soreness, or stiffness.
It improves muscle tone, lengthens a dog’s stride, increases range of motion, allows for more fluid movement, and reduces injuries of sports-related injuries.
Massage therapy also helps muscle and connective tissue restrictions, spasms, tight muscles, tendons, skin, and nearby tissues that cause the joints to shorten and become stiff, limiting normal movement.
Assists Circulation
Like humans, a dog’s lymphatic system is their body’s “sewerage system” and helps move metabolic waste away from their muscles and internal organs. Massage therapy assists the lymphatic system by removing toxins from the body. It also increases blood circulation, promoting oxygenation and nutrients delivered to muscles and tissues. Good circulation ensures that your dog gets a healthy supply of blood, oxygen, and nutrients to their entire body, including their brain and organs, and keeps their skin and coat healthy.
Rehabilitation, Senior Pets, And Palliative Care
Massage is a wonderful therapy for rehabilitating animals from an injury or surgery, seniors, or older dogs needing palliative care.
Proven to improve the quality of life for dogs, canine massage helps alleviate pre-and-post-operative procedures, rehabilitates muscular injuries, and reduces and remodels scar tissue. It also helps alleviates age-related disorders such as arthritis and supports orthopedic conditions such as hip dysplasia, luxating patella, or age-related degenerations of the spine. In addition, it is overall influencing the body’s natural healing process.
Mental Benefits of Canine Massage Therapy
Like humans, massage reduces stress and anxiety, which is very beneficial for any dog, especially for shy, nervous, reactive, or aggressive dogs. Massage helps improve mood, temperament, and behavior and reduces anxiety by decreasing stress levels and inducing a relaxation response.
So as you can see, canine massage therapy offers a vast array of dog benefits. Whether companion pets, working dogs, sporting dogs, or therapy dogs, canine massage therapy enhances a dog’s quality of life, creating a happier and healthier dog.
Are you interested in learning more about how your dogs would benefit from Canine Massage Therapy? We’d love to speak with you more about canine massage and how it can add value to your pet’s life, contact us!
