Physiotherapy and hydrotherapy play an increasingly important role in managing canine hip dysplasia, improving muscle support, reducing pain, and delaying the need for surgical intervention.
Canine physiotherapy for hip dysplasia addresses a welfare problem that medication alone cannot fully resolve. Building muscle mass around unstable joints through targeted therapeutic exercise reduces pain and improves mechanical function in a way that supplements rather than replaces pain medication. Hydrotherapy enables exercise in dogs whose pain limits land-based activity, maintaining fitness and preventing the muscle wasting that would further destabilise the hip. Dogs receiving regular physiotherapy alongside appropriate medical management typically show better quality of life indicators than those receiving medication alone, demonstrating measurable welfare benefit from this treatment modality.