My clients will know that I love to write a detailed report following each session, providing details on my findings, treatment plan, recommendations and exercises that are tailored to the individual. Not only does this mean that you do not have to remember everything I have waffled on about during the session, but it also allows a deeper understanding of the areas that your animal may be finding uncomfortable and the patterns of compensation and tension that may be recurring.

Whilst I always do my best to explain my findings to you in a way that is easy to understand, it is important to me that I use the correct terminology and anatomical terms in my reports. This allows other members of your animal’s team, such as their vet or another therapist, to understand the findings in a more accurate and specific way. I also believe that a more in-depth understanding of your animal’s body can really make the difference when caring for, training and rehabilitating them.

Some of the terms I use in the report may leave you scratching your head and thinking “but Chloe, what an earth does hypertonicity actually mean?” and possibly “why do these muscles sound like they could be dinosaur names?” (Brachiocephalicus, i’m looking at you).

But fear not, this blog is here to help! (… at least with the former question anyway)

Let’s start with directional terms. These allow us to accurately communicate where on the body we are referring to, in relation to the other structures. The terms I may use are:

Cranial: toward the head
Caudal: toward the tail
Rostral: towards the nose
Ventral: toward the belly
Dorsal: toward the back
Medial: closer to the midline of the body
Lateral: farther away from the midline of the body
Palmar: the bottom of the forelimb hoof/paw, continuing up to the back of the limb towards the ‘knee’
Plantar: the bottom of the hindlimb hoof/paw, continuing up to the back of the limb towards the hock
Proximal (when describing limbs): closer to the body
Distal (when describing limbs): farther from the body

I also often use:

Bilateral (sometimes written as BL): both sides of the animal
Unilateral: on one side of the animal
Superficial: closer to the surface of the body
Deep: farther away from the surface of the body

Now let’s look at the terms related to range of motion and movement. An in-depth look at biomechanics is beyond the scope of this blog post but here are a few terms that you can often find in my report.

Range of motion (ROM): the amount of movement a joint or body part can make
Reduced ROM: when a joint can't move as far or as easily as it normally would
Hypermobile: a large range of movement in the joints, more flexible than normal
Flexion: the act of bending or decreasing the angle between the bones of the joint
Extension: the act of straightening or increasing the angle between the bones of the joint
Protraction: bringing the limb forward
Retraction: pulling the limb backwards
ABduction: moving the limb away from the midline of body (think being abducted by aliens, you’re being taken away)
ADduction: moving the limb towards the midline of the body
Circumduction: a circling motion of the limb
External rotation: a rotation away from the midline of the body
Internal rotation: a rotation towards the midline of the body
Swing phase vs stance phase: "swing phase" refers to the period when the foot is off the ground, while the "stance phase" is when the foot is in contact with the ground and supporting the body's weight.

Finally, let’s look at the terminology used to describe muscle mass and condition. This is what I observe when I assess your animal statically, and also what I feel for when I palpate.

Hypertonicity (represented by a red line on the diagram on your report): increased muscle tone (tight/tense muscle tone).
Hypotonicity: decreased muscle tone (abnormally soft/floppy muscle tone)
Atrophy: a decrease in muscle mass or muscle ‘wastage’
Hypertrophy: an large increase in muscle mass
Trigger point: a palpable tender ‘knot’ or ‘nodule’ in tight muscles that can cause pain in the local area or elsewhere in the body. Often characterized by a twitch response.
Fascial adhesions: layers of fascia that ‘stick’ together, often forming tight bands
Scar tissue: fibrous tissue that forms to repair damaged tissue after an injury

I hope this helped you to understand your animal’s body a little better. Now the next time you receive a report, you will be able to spot these keywords and know exactly what I am talking about!

I love to hear feedback! If you have any thoughts on this blog post, whether that is things you enjoyed, areas I could improve, or ideas for future posts, let me know!

All images are my own.

Understanding Your Animal’s Physiotherapy Report