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Physio Gold

ACPAT Veterinary Physiotherapy & Chartered Physiotherapy Practice

07833 606519

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Zoe Fisher MSc CSP HCPC ACPAT 

Chartered Physiotherapist
Veterinary Physiotherapist

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RAMP
registered

Zoe is a veterinary physiotherapist, offering services for horses, dogs, rabbits and other animals.

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She is a chartered physiotherapist, has 30 years of experience working with people with musculoskeletal pain. She specialises in spinal pain diagnostics and rehabilitation, and persistent problem back pain.

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Zoe has always been surrounded by animals, evented to Intermediate level prior to starting a family, and now supports her 2 teenage daughters with their equestrian fun.

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Based in Twyford, just south of Winchester, Zoe travels to see animal and human clients, usually in Hampshire, but with visits to the Isle of Wight and around the UK. Please do contact her to discuss.

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Member of the:

CSP       Chartered Society of Physiotherapy

HCPC   Health & Care Professions Council

ACPAT  Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Animal Therapy

RAMP   Register of animal musculoskeletal practitioners

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Meet Amelia

Physiotherapy Services 

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Physiotherapy includes:

  • An assessment to gain an understanding of the condition and its impact

  • Discussions to share information with the client to agree the management plan

  • Manual therapy; joint, soft tissue & neural mobilisations

  • Exercise programmes to improve strength, endurance, proprioception, symmetry and quality of movement

  • Electrophysical agents: INDIBA, Ultrasound, Neuromuscular electrical stimulation

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Humans

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Physiotherapy can help with conditions including:​

  • Back or neck pain

  • Sciatica

  • Sports injuries; muscle strains, ligament sprains

  • Repetitive strain injuries

  • Arthritis

  • Persistent pain

  • Post-operative rehabilitation

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Rider biomechanics

The rider's interaction with the horse will impact on the horse's wellbeing, performance and comfort.

Physiotherapy can assess and optimise the rider's influence on the horse. 

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Physiotherapy is beneficial for the maintenance of horses' musculoskeletal health, helping prevent and recover from injury, and maximise performance.

As prey animals, horses hide pain, our recognition of pain may only take place when a dysfunction has become significant. Recognition of small changes in our horses' behaviour could help identify a potential problem and assist in developing a treament plan for the horse as soon as possible, ultimately improving the outcome.

Some horses, particularly older ones, have the challenge of several sources of pain. Having agreed management with your vet, physiotherapy can help to improve the horse's comfort, performance and quality of life.

Conditions include:

  • Back, neck and sacroiliac pain

  • Muscle, tendon & ligament injuries

  • Arthritis, joint conditions, navicular

  • Just "not right" - poor performance, altered behaviour

Horses

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Dogs

Different breeds of dogs are susceptible to different musculoskeletal conditions, some of which might require surgical management, many of which need long term management to minimise dogs' pain and maximise their quality of life.

Conditions include:

  • Elbow & hip dysplasia

  • Osteoarthritis

  • Luxating patella

  • Disc disease / disc herniations

  • Cruciate ligament dysfunction / surgery

Dogs can also experience injuries when playing, working or competing, physiotherapy can help prevent and rehabilitate following injury.

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Rabbits

Rabbits are prey animals, responding to stress and pain very differently to cats and dogs. Limb fractures are a common orthopaedic condition in rabbits. If rabbits are stressed or in pain they may stop eating and their intestines can stop working properly, which can be life threatening. Following veterinary and pain management care, physiotherapy can help rabbits rehabilitate following injuries or surgery 

Physiotherapy treatments

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Exercise 

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Exercise really is the best thing ever. 

It leads to the release of natural painkillers & interrupts pain pathways in the nervous system.

It has an anti-inflammatory effect, shown to be superior to medication in osteoarthritic pain.

With back pain, there is a reduction in size of the deep back stabilising muscles, and they do not recover automatically with the resolution of pain. Physiotherapy will guide exercises to help recover muscle size and strength, along with improving proprioception and quality of movement. Proprioception is our "6th sense", the sense of body position and movement.

Exercise assists in the return to improved performance.

Joint mobilisations

Joint mobiilisations stimulate mechanoreceptors (nerves that respond to mechanical change). This leads to neurophysiological effects on the pain modulatory system within the central nervous system and activates the pain gate in the spinal cord. 

It can lead to visible change of demeanor and behaviour in the animal, suggesting pain relief, it also assists in the increase of joint range of movement, and return to normal function.

Soft tissue mobilisations

The mechanical stimulus of manual therapy and massage, results in neurophysiological effects within the central and peripheral nervous system reducing pain, having a parasympathetic nervous system effect, reducing heart rate, lowering blood pressure and leading to relaxation.

Animals can be seen to relax; horses may yawn and rest a hind limb, lower their heads in response to treatment.

Elecrophysical agents

Ultrasound  assists tissue healing, stimulating cells to maximise the processes of  inflammation, proliferation and remodelling (part of tissue repair). Its absorption, and therefore treatment target is best for tendons & ligaments, joint capusles and scar tissue. It also assists in wound healing.

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is used to treat loss of muscle strength, shown to assist muscle weakness associated with arthritis, and following surgery.

INDIBA

Capacitive resistive electric transfer (CRET)

Physio Gold has an INDIBA for horses and humans

INDIBA radiofrequency treatment provides therapeutic effects at a cellular level,

activating the body’s natural healing mechanisms, stimulating cell activity, improving circulation and reducing pain.

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It is exciting (particularly for horses!) as it reaches a depth within the body not normally achievable. The current passes from the treatment head to the return plate (usually under the girth area on the horse), reaching structures usually very hard to influence, such as the sacroiliac joint, deep gluteal muscles, and even structures within the foot of the horse.

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INDIBA's frequency produces two biophysical actions:

1. Thermal effects increase tissue temperature, metabolism, local vasodilation, lymphatic drainage and collagen and elastin synthesis stimulation. Blood circulation dissipates heat meaning there is not a risk of hyperthermia.

2. Electric stimulation increase the proliferation of stem cells (the body's vital raw material cells), leading to tissue regeneration and repair.

It does not affect the capacity of  stem cells to specialise.

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It can be used when your horse is recovering from an acute injury, has long term (chronic) pain and to boost function.

Metal - and the horse's shoes - do not prevent treatment from taking place!

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Conditions for which it can be used in the horse:

SIJ Pain

Navicular disease

Tendon injuries, recent or long term

Ligament injuries, recent or long term

Back pain  - including kissing spine, arthritis

Osteoarthritis

Osteochondrosis dissecans

Splints

Muscle injuries

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Why Naturopathy

Physiotherapy

The legal letters

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A qualified member of the professional body, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP)

https://www.csp.org.uk/

Chartered Physiotherapist

The title "Physiotherapy" is protected, physiotherapists must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), and must maintain professional development to remain registered.

https://www.hcpc-uk.org/

Unfortunately the title "Animal or Veterinary Physiotherapist" is not protected, anyone can call themselves this without the university qualifications of governing body regulations. Work is being undertaken to change this.

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The register of animal musculoskeletal practictions is a voluntary register of professionals signed up to take responsibility to attain and maintain gold standards of practice in animal musculoskeletal practice. 

It is designed to help vets and animal owners choose competent professionals in the care of their animals.

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Members of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Animal Therapy who have gained a degree in Physiotherapy, are members of the HCPC and registered with the CSP.

ACPAT Physiotherapists will have at least 5 years of university education and significant experience as a human physiotherapist before treating animals.

Animal Physiotherapists work under an an Exemption Order to the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966  which allows them to treat an animal under the direction of a veterinary surgeon who has examined the animal.

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The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) now supports that veterinary referral is not needed for maintenance work, such as massage, in a healthy animal.

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19.24   Musculoskeletal maintenance care for a healthy animal, for instance massage, does not require delegation by a veterinary surgeon. However, the animal must still be registered with a veterinary surgeon. Maintenance should cease and the owner of the animal should be asked to take their animal to a veterinary surgeon for clinical examination at the first sign that there may be any underlying injury, disease or pathology. Alternatively, the musculoskeletal therapist may ask the client for formal consent to disclose any concerns to the veterinary surgeon that has their animal under their care. Chapter 19 of the supporting guidance

Physio Gold - Prices - 2025

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Additional reports: £15
Insurance applications: £15
Travel costs: 60p per mile from Twyford
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Terms & Conditions - Please read - by contacting us, having the link to the website, and arranging and appointment, you are confirming that you agreed to the below:

​​1  Consent: Veterinary consent is required prior to any session that is not considered maintenance. Animals will only be seen for physiotherapy care in accordance with the Veterinary Surgeon’s Act 1966 and exemptions order 2015.

Any physiotherapy assessment and/or treatment of your animal may be discussed with your veterinary surgeon and other relevant professionals as required.

 

2 Owner responsibility: It is the owner’s responsibility to declare any changes to the animal’s health, or medical condition between treatments.

 

It is the owner’s responsibility to inform the veterinary physiotherapist of any infectious condition prior to treatment or other medical condition.

Failure to do so, and if the animal cannot be treated on the day of the appointment, this will still incur a full session charge. Please communicate with your physiotherapist as soon as possible if you think this may be the case.

Owners are required to provide suitable equipment for a physiotherapy session, including light and water, and ensure the animal is safe to be handled, assessed and treated.

 

3 Social media:

Photos and video footage may be obtained during a session.

It is assumed that consent is given for these to be used for education, informative or marketing purposes - personal details including name or address will not be revealed. Please inform the physiotherapist if you do not wish for your or your animal's photograph to be used.

 

4 Disclaimer: The veterinary physiotherapist does not take any responsibility for any accident or injury sustained by the animal’s owner or animal during a veterinary physiotherapy session.

The veterinary physiotherapist cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage to vehicles or personal property whilst on the premises.

 

5 Confidentiality: All personal information will be protected in compliance with the Data Protection Act (1998) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Data will be stored on a password protected device for 7 years as per insurance requirements, and then will be appropriately destroyed

 

.6 Payment: Full payment is  required within 7 days of the invoice being received.

Failure to settle an invoice within this time may incur a late payment charge of 10%.

 

7 Insurance claims: all clients are to pay upfront on receipt of the invoice, and can then reclaim the cost with the invoice received.

Reports, forms being completed for insurance will incur a £10 charge.

 

8 Cancellations: All appointments cancelled with less than 24 hours notice will be charged at full price unless exceptional circumstances (call to discuss).

Contact form - for animal or human questions!

If your pet required physiotherapy for sports performance maintenance then we do not need vet consent but for any medical movement issue we need vet consent and relevant history from your vet. This can be done via the Vet Physio registration form. When in doubt, we need to gain consent from your vet.

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Contact Info

Phone

Email

Address

07833 606519

Twyford, Hampshire

Contact

Exercise

INDIBA

  • Bautmans et al. (2021). The effects of exercise interventions on the inflammatory profile of older adults: A systematic review of the recent literature.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33453323/ 

  • Menzies-Gow et al. (2013). The effect of exercise on plasma concentrations of inflammatory markers in normal and previously laminitic ponies. 

        https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23819851/

         https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17070721/

  • ​Castejon-Riber et al (2017). Objectives, Principles, and Methods of Strength Training for Horses.

        https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0737080616307158.

  • Nijs et al. (2012). Dysfunctional endogenous analgesia during exercise in patients with chronic pain: to exercise or not to exercise? 

        https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22786458/.

  • Nussbaum et al. 2017. NMES for treatment of muscle impairment 

        https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5683854/

  • Stubbs et al (2010). Osseous spinal pathology and epaxial muscle ultrasonography in Thoroughbred racehorses.

         https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21059076/

  • Tabor, G. (2015). The effect of dynamic mobilisation exercises on the equine multifidus muscle and thoracic profile. 

        https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/3320.

  • Thorlund et al (2022). Similar Effects of Exercise Therapy, Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs, and Opioids for Knee Osteoarthritis Pain

         https://www.jospt.org/doi/abs/10.2519/jospt.2022.10490

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  • Radiofrequency: Is is a game changes?

        https://www.performance-animal-physiotherapy.co.uk/_files/ugd/e648a0_7b5c311f81f641258dbb36715cff2e0c.pdf

  • Rehabilitation of the superficial digital flexor tendon

        https://www.performance-animal-physiotherapy.co.uk/_files/ugd/e648a0_a06f104c7b5047838d54115c5279d50c.pdf

  • Knee Osteoarthritis

        https://www.intact.si/uploads/docs/Osteoarth-Indiba-Kumaran-Watson.pdf

  • INDIBA Health - articles and blogs:

        https://www.indiba.com/iah/news/

  • INDIBA used in horses with back pain:

        https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7762083/

 

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