Atlas Rehabilitation for Canines

Atlas Rehabilitation for Canines is Santa Barbara's only free standing, full service animal rehabilitation facility led by certified professionals. In June of 2017, Karen Atlas, MPT, PT, CCRT, teamed up with Dr. Bill Otto, DVM, to open ARC and offer physical rehabilitation services to pets. ARC is fully equipped with the latest underwater treadmill, cold laser therapy (class 3b), therapeutic ultrasound, Alpha-Stimulation (CES and MET), pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF), electrical stimulation (NMES and TENS), as well as innovative land based exercise equipment.

Manual Therapy

 
 

Manual therapy consists of various soft tissue mobilizations, joint mobilizations, and passive range of motion techniques in order to improve mobility, decrease pain, and optimize function. As a human physical therapist, Karen Atlas has been studying and perfecting her manual therapy techniques for the past 20 years.   She is so passionate about the difference manual therapy techniques make in recovery, that she hosts a yearly conference in order to help other canine rehabilitation professionals expand their knowledge to better treat canines using some of these techniques (developed originally by Laurie Edge-Hughes, founder of Four Leg Rehab).

Manual therapy is proven to be effective and serves as a non-invasive treatment option. Most patients are very relaxed during treatments and can have immediate beneficial results.  These specialized techniques done in combination with critical thinking and skilled hands can make a huge difference in recovery outcomes which sets ARC apart from any other facility without a licensed physical therapist on staff.

 

Conditions that manual therapy has shown to be effective in treating:

  • Muscle spasms

  • Muscle strains

  • Edema

  • Pain

  • Facet joint dysfunction

  • Decreased joint mobility

  • Postural dyfunction