How can I help improve my dog’s pain?

If your dog’s showing signs of suffering badly with arthritis, it’s worth doing some warm-up movements with him, just as you’d do yourself before weight lifting or cardio.

Dog joint pain can make dogs reluctant to get up and run about. However it’s widely believed that, in many cases, dogs that don’t exercise suffer more with the effects of canine arthritis than dogs that remain active despite their condition.

Modify your dog’s exercise to a low impact pace, so try activities like slow walks around the park, or taking your dog for a swim to ease arthritic pain. Moderate exercise increases blood flow and mobility in the joints which encourages healing in the inflammed areas.

How does arthritis in dogs occur?

Research shows that ‘moderate running exercise locally alters the biological properties of young articular cartilage’*, which means that medium intensity exercises can affect the status of a dog’s cartilage.

Arthritic dogs typically have very thick cartilage at the joints which rubs together as the muscles move. This eventually wears down through friction.

As the cartilage becomes damaged, the body’s natural response is to create inflammation and swelling in the area to protect against further destruction. It’s this inflammation that creates dog joint pain.

Studies have found that regular and moderate running exercises in young dogs can reduce cartilage thickness by an estimated 6%*, which reduces the risk of damage by friction in old age.

You might be concerned that medium and high-intensity exercises, especially weight-bearing exercises, could be detrimental to dogs in the long term. We investigated the safety aspects of exercise and older dogs with arthritis and found research confirming that these types of activities don’t lead to premature damage* of the joints or muscles, or accelerate cartilage degeneration.

Keeping your dog active is considered one of the best ways of reducing the risk of dog joint pain in the future.

What’s the best exercise for dogs with arthritis?

The exercise regime is a little different to standard exercises for dogs. A young, fit, healthy dog will love to race around, to chase balls, or dig in the sand. But exercise for a dog with inflammation should be much lower impact. Those that don’t put any additional strain onto the painful joints. By low impact exercise we mean taking your dog for slow to moderate walks and swimming.