gex.vetphysio

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gex.vetphysio

ANIMAL MASSAGE THERAPIST
Working towards an MSc in Veterinary Physiotherapy🎓
📍Covering Sussex, Surrey & parts of Kent

28/04/2026

Delighted to say that I passed my final practical exams for both equine & canine 🐴🐶 which included muscle palpation, ROM, stretching, massage, a rehab plan, electrotherapy application & discussions. The last few weeks have been very stressful but couldn’t be more happier with the outcome especially after 4 years of hard work! Just my dissertation thesis to hand in now📚

24/04/2026

Clover making the most of her massage by falling asleep! Especially after her busy season retrieving 🪶 with maintenance treatment aiming to keep her feeling and performing at her best.

03/04/2026

Another addition to my toolkit… Fascial edge tool🧰

Today I completed a CPD course for the fascial edge tool which involved delving into the effects dysfunctional fascia has on the body & performance of horses and how the tool can help improve the health of fascia with the afternoon spent learning how to apply it!

I am looking forwards to integrating it within my treatment sessions for horses (& dogs) to aid in restoring restricted fascia.

31/03/2026

𝚂𝙸𝚃 - 𝚃𝙾 - 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝙽𝙳… 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚐 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚜𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚝🐕

Sit to stands are a fantastic form of resistance training to strengthen hindlimbs, in which the dog uses its own bodyweight as the resistance.

📊This particularly helps strengthens muscles surrounding the hip such as gluteals as well as muscles which provide stability to the stifle (knee joint) such as quadriceps, by increasing the activity levels of these muscle.
📊 It’s great for dogs with hip dysplasia as it doesn’t cause excessive extension of the hip joint which would usually cause pain/discomfort due to instability.
📊The increased flexion and extension of joints helps to enhance synovial fluid production which is crucial for keeping joints healthy by providing nutrients to cartilage etc.

However it’s all in the technique…
•Dogs should be encouraged to sit with forelimbs & hindlimbs in line with eachother (square), not one leg popping out to the side of the dog rolling more bodyweight onto one side of the hip.
•When asked to stand up from the sit the dog should be encouraged forwards so the dog correctly pushes up from the hindlimbs rather than using momentum or the forelimbs as an advantage.
•For dogs who struggle to lower themselves into a sit, a foam bloc or firm cushion can be used to help support them.

26/03/2026

Today was a big milestone in my Masters degree… I presented my findings from my dissertation trial📈

My results showed…
• Significant increase in peak muscle activity of the superficial gluteal over ground poles and raised poles & a non significant increase in the peak biceps femoris during ground poles & raised poles.
• Non-significant increases in the average activity of the biceps femoris and superficial gluteal muscle in the hindlimb over ground poles and raised poles.

16/03/2026

This week is the last of our clinical rotations and today I had the pleasure of treating this sweet Labrador, Buddy🐶. He had some laser treatment through his elbows to help manage his osteoarthritis alongside some massage which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Reflecting back on clinical rotations I’ve learnt so much being able to help treat and be a part of various dogs rehabilitation including IVDD, cruciate ligament rupture, elbow dysplasia, fibrotic myelopathy, spondylosis, patella luxation, hip dysplasia as well as for general maintenance.

I’m looking forwards to being able to carry my knowledge and apply it to my patients in the near future.

*Not currently qualified or offering laser as part of treatment.

04/03/2026

Delighted to say that I passed both my exams this week✅ It included a remedial exercise plan for a dog with cruciate ligament rupture that underwent extracapsular suture surgery and an equine remedial exercise plan for a horse with a T18 rib fracture.

This exam assessed our ability to choose the most appropriate exercises to safely and effectively rehab a patient after injury and clinically reason our decisions through a discussion which included details of exercises at a cellular level to improve prognosis for each case.

It’s feeling so surreal that my degree is drawing to a close… just 2 more practical exams, 2 assignments and a dissertation to go!

26/02/2026

POLL RELEASE💆🏼‍♀️ Seeing how the horses relax into this after working through their poll is lovely, especially as so many horse carry a lot of tension within this area!

09/02/2026

𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋 𝐏𝐔𝐋𝐋

Equine back pain is one of the most common causes undermining poor performance, therefore utilising exercises to keep your horses back feeling supple is crucial especially in between treatment sessions.

Caudal tail pulls are one of my favourite exercises as they are simple to do and have proven to help reduce back pain! The traction applied to the tail induces relaxation of back and glute muscles as well as associated fascial connections due to the horse counteracting the pull by leaning forwards onto the forelimbs.

Research:
📊They increase mechanical nociceptive thresholds (MNTs) in the thoracic region of the back in 83% of horses, 50% increase in the lumbar and 52.4% increase in the pelvis. (Long et al., 2020). MNTs are the minimum amount of pressure required to induce a pain-avoidance response. Therefore in this case, MNTs increased after caudal tail pulls meaning there is lower back sensitivity/pain.

📊Effective for relieving back, sacroiliac and lumbosacral discomfort (Haussler, 2018).

📊 Shown to increase the activity of the gracilis muscle which has a pivotal role in hindlimb stability (Elósegui et al., 2024).

Application:
Hold your horses tail firmly with at least 1 hand on the dock whilst being cautious of standing directly behind a horse. Lean your bodweight back slowly, hold for approximately 30 seconds before gently releasing. You can repeat this 2-3 times after you’ve ridden your horse when soft tissue structures are warm to obtain the desired effect.

I have recently set up a Facebook group ‘GEX Veterinary Physiotherapy-resourceful information’ as a place to share research relevant to the veterinary physiotherapy field weekly which is accessible and easy to understand for horse owners, students & paraprofessionals. If you’re interested in learning more about findings from research head over and join the group now! GEX Veterinary Physiotherapy- resourceful information

07/02/2026

If your animal has received treatment from myself, I would really appreciate a review left on either my page ‘gex.vetphysio’ or my Google profile ⭐️ Your support doesn’t go unnoticed therefore in return I am offering £5.00 off your next treatment!

21/01/2026

A full circle moment 🐴 A few weeks back my old equine college reached out and asked whether I could provide a demonstration for their students. Last Thursday I headed back to the college where I studied 4 years ago before going off to university to study veterinary physiotherapy and completed the demo! The students got an insight into massage therapy, they were able to ask lots of questions along the way including the route I chose to get into veterinary physiotherapy and finished up by the students having a go at some of the basic massage techniques themselves🙌

01/01/2026

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚🐶

Here’s a few recommendations to help keep your dog feeling their best over winter:

❄️Ensure your dog remains warm, shivering due to coldness can cause muscles to become hypertonic (tight).

❄️Use heat therapy (e.g. microwave heat pack) for older dogs or orthopaedic dogs to help warm joints before going out walking to reduce stiffness.

❄️Avoid slippy surfaces out walking (and in the house!) this can cause extra strain to be applied to joints & muscles.

❄️Where possible break your dogs walks up into smaller but more regular increments. This prevents stiffness as movement is crucial for joint health (more movement= more synovial fluid production=healthier & happier joints)

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Crawley

Website

https://gracieexler16.wixsite.com/gexmassagetherapy

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