The Use of Balance Pads in Rehabilitation
Balance pads are flat foam pads which have an unstable surface, requiring an animal to perform constant adjustments to maintain balance when standing on them. This kind of exercise helps to retrain the brain and muscles to work together to adapt to various positions, improving balance and coordination, strengthening small stabilizing muscles, and improving joint health. The pads are extremely versatile and can be used in the rehabilitation of a wide range of injuries and disease processes.
Benefits of Balance Pads:
Improving Balance. Since balance pads are unstable, standing or exercising on them requires animals to recruit many different muscle groups to constantly maintain whole body balance. At first, it is challenging for animals just to stand on the pads, but with time, their skills improve and this becomes easier. Improving balance, decreases the chance of future injury and encourages efficient, symmetric use of the body on stable ground.
Improving Coordination. As balance improves, the patient can be further challenged by performing increasingly difficult exercises while still maintaining their balance on the unstable pads. This helps to improve coordination and motor skills necessary as an animal begins to return to work.
Proprioception. Proprioception is the awareness of the body in space. This can decrease after an injury or surgery and especially in neurologic disease. Retraining the pathways between the body and brain with the use of balance pads helps to improve proprioception.
Strengthening Stabilization Muscles. When standing or performing exercises on balance pads, the body must recruit the smaller stabilizing muscles to maintain balance. When these muscles become weak, the larger muscles may tighten and become painful, as they try to perform a job they are not meant to take on. These small stabilizing muscles are often challenging to isolate and strengthen, but are essential for comfort, proper gait biomechanics, joint health and the healing of injuries.
Improving Core Strength. In order to maintain total body balance, the core stabilizing muscles are essential. These muscle improve posture and gait quality as an animal increases work load. They also support the incredibly important spine!
Improving Joint Flexibility. After an injury or surgery on or near a joint, the joint will be prone to losing mobility and flexibility. Balance pads can help encourage gentle stretching of the joint capsule to offset tightening of the injured area.
Ease of use. Balance pads are extremely easy to use with minimal training and are well-tolerated by most animals. They are inexpensive and can be used at home by the owner.
Versatility. The options for balance pad exercises are endless!
Low Impact. Balance pads can be incorporated very early in a rehabilitation program, as they are very low impact, but facilitate a high level of rehabilitative progress.
Animals with proprioceptive deficits or musculoskeletal injuries have decreased postural stability and abnormal signaling pathways between the body and the brain. Challenging the neuromuscular system in order to retrain these neuromuscular pathways is an essential part of the path to recovery after injury. Rebuilding muscle fibers, improving joint flexibility and improving core strength is important for decreasing the chance of future injury.