Post canine massage protocol

Post canine massage protocol

Senior Cattle dog, Jess got her first canine massage. She loved it. She was clearly feeling better as she strolled leisurely out to the car. What a huge difference from the stiff and stumbling, limping, side-winding shuffle she presented an hour earlier before her massage! 
 
After she was settled back in the car, her owner poked her head back into the office as asked if she should walk her. I realized that this was something that a lot of people might wonder after their dog gets a massage. So, here are some thoughts on post massage exercise.
 
In a canine massage, dogs’ muscles and connective tissues are stretched and softened. Cardiovascular flow is enhanced. Respiration is deeper. Lymphatic flow is mobilized. Chi energy flow is better and faster. A massage is a doggone full body work out. 
 
A massage is just like running a (short) marathon. And, just like after a marathon, if you stop altogether either resting or propped up on a bar stool (how do I know this?), your muscles will tighten, stiffen and cramp. It is also recommended to hydrate your body (hence, the bar stool).
 
Post canine massage movement
Continued movement is encouraged so the lactic acid that has been released can be moved out of the muscles. Lactic acid, for those of you who haven’t heard of it, is the chemical produced when muscles work. In massage, we call lactic acid the “end product of muscle work,” or ‘muscle poop.” 
 
So, after her session, Jess was taken for a short walk to the yard behind our clinic where she could release whatever kind of poop she needed to discharge. Jess’s mom had asked how far she should walk her. Considering her age and compromised condition, I suggested about 100 yards. It’s Spring. That would be a 9-iron.
 
For younger and healthier dogs, a longer walk would do nicely. If you can walk for a mile, or a half a mile, that ought to be sufficient for the body to move the lactic acid out of the tissues and into the blood stream. From there it gets filtered and processed by the kidneys and becomes a component of urine. Walking after the massage helps rebalance the flows of the physiological and energetic systems mentioned above.
 
Post canine massage rehydration
Hydration is important. Hydration, from the root hydra, water, is the process of adding water to your dog’s body. While people may lose body water through sweat, dogs, not so much. They only wick away perspiration through evaporation of their saliva off their tongues, and releasing moisture from between the pads of their paws. The paw moisture is minimal. The moisture is mostly a vehicle for leaving a trail of scent infused tracks for other dogs.
 
During the dog massage, though, we work quite a bit on the top, dorsal, line. Holding, efflueraging, scratching, patting, prodding and poking the ridges of the vertebral spine and, more importantly, the little hollows between them. Well guess what you are stimulating in those little valleys? It’s the Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupressure Urinary Bladder Meridian. 
 
The Bladder M. is one of the primary regulators of fluid balance and fluid distribution in the body. Which fluids, you ask? All of them. You’re stimulating the fluid in the joints (synovial), the fluid in the tissues (interstitial), the fluid in the skull and spinal cord (Cerebral Spinal), the fluid in the gut (chyme), the fluid in the sinuses (pressure) and the eyes (vision) and the ears (balance), in the nose (acoustics), the fluid in the blood stream (what was that again?), the fluid in the lymph nodes (lymph), and oh yes, the fluid moving toward and in the bladder (urine).
 
Post canine massage protocol
So after her massage, Jess gets some water to drink. She needs to dilute her newly concentrated urine. And, she gets to go for a walk, where she can post the pass-it notes of her recent canine massage session on the trees and shrubbery along the way.
 
I’d like to hear your views. Do you agree?