A Relaxing Rehabilitation Experience
The underwater treadmill at Alpha Animal Rehab & Fitness offers a unique, gentle rehabilitation experience for pets of all sizes and ages. Whether your companion is recovering from surgery, managing arthritis, working toward weight loss goals, or maintaining senior fitness, hydrotherapy offers a safe, low-impact approach to building strength and mobility. The buoyancy of warm water reduces stress on joints while providing natural resistance, creating an ideal environment for therapeutic exercise and conditioning.
A Low-Impact Water Workout
Pets enjoy many advantages from utilizing underwater treadmills at Alpha Animal Rehab & Fitness. The buoyancy of water minimizes the weight on fragile bones and joints. Reducing the load on bones and joints is vital to increasing a pet’s endurance and strength without adding excess stress. This helps explain why water aerobics and various forms of water therapy are considered low impact.
Additionally, warm water can reduce pain and make connective tissue more flexible, facilitating a greater range of motion and deeper stretching. The warmth of the water can also increase blood flow and motivation to speed up recovery. Using the thermal effects of water helps dogs, cats, and other pets relax during rehabilitation.
Rehab For All Shapes and Sizes
The underwater treadmill provides another significant benefit: the treadmill speed can be customized for each pet based on the patient’s conditions and needs. For example, a small-breed dog with an FHO (Femoral Head Osteotomy) would typically require a slower pace, where faster speeds are better for animals in the conditioning or training phase. The underwater treadmill’s rate is always dictated by the pets’ specific needs and physical condition.
What to Expect
Be sure to give your pet a potty break before the appointment. During your pet’s underwater treadmill session, our team will carefully guide them into the warm water treadmill system. Buoyancy reduces stress on joints, while controlled resistance helps build strength, improve mobility, and increase endurance. Most pets adjust quickly and enjoy the soothing, low-impact exercise as part of their rehabilitation or fitness program.
A typical underwater treadmill session lasts about 30 minutes, which includes preparation, warm-up, and cool-down. The water is maintained at a comfortable, therapeutic temperature (generally mid-80s to low-90s °F), which supports muscle relaxation, circulation, and safe exercise throughout the session.