New Pathway Starting mid July 2020

Level I is all about learning the fundamentals. The groundwork if you will. An opportunity to see where you could go with a career in animal therapeutics with people who teach real animal osteopathy. We separate equine and canine courses for two good reasons..

1. Not all students want to work with both large and small animals.
2. Horses and dogs are not the same. They suffer different day to day exposures, suffer from radically different pathologies and are very different to treat. That’s why individual vets rarely treat both!

Generic Level I – Indicative Content – Canine or Equine Pathways

1. Introduction and professional communications;
2. Health and safety relating to working with animals;
3. UK veterinary laws and key criteria for working as an animal profession (UK);
4. Handling and gait paces;
5. Osteopathic concepts and principals for the animal patient – Part I;
6. Palpation practice – learning to feel the tissues of an animal patient;
7. Canine/Equine behavioural science – learn how to understand your animal patient ;
8. Case history taking and report writing;
9. Global assessment, gait and active assessment;
10. Forelimb anatomy, orthopaedic considerations and forelimb assessment;
11. Hindlimb anatomy, orthopaedic considerations, hindlimb and assessment
12. Thoracic and lumbar anatomy, orthopaedic considerations and assessment;
13. Cervical anatomy, orthopaedic considerations and cervical assessment;
14. Integration of the animal as a whole (bonus content)
15. Soft tissue theory and application;
16. Stretching theory and application;
17. Joint articulation theory and application;
18. Osteopathic integration of cases. Global and local considerations that factor into disease;
19. Creating treatment plans, home management advice and considerations,
20. Summary and consolidation of learning.

We’ll teach you how to work effectively with animal patients, their owners and the veterinary profession. This is because not only is it a legal requirement to work within your scope of practice, but also because the commercial landscape of animal therapy is changing rapidly. Corporates are buying out small veterinary practices and setting their own boundaries and expectations. This means that anyone wanting to work in animal therapeutics needs to have a strong and competent skill set, to impress their local vet.

Level I commences the exploration of functional anatomy and movement analysis at a level that is necessary for any new practitioner. We will teach your how to integrate your thinking and knowledge, such that you become holistic in your considerations from the start, and we’ll teach you what to look out for so that you can identify any risks or immediate need for referral. This is essential when working with animals.

Many people think that “seeing the odd canine patient is safe”. It is not! That is because it’s not what you know (or necessarily do) in animal practice that harms. It’s what you DON’T know. In some cases, leaving a horse untreated for 2-3 days may cause death if you’ve said “oh, let’s just see how he goes” and the owner trusts you enough not to call out a vet. That’s why we teach equine and canine separately and why we strongly dissuade practitioners in human practice from dabbling with animals. For one thing, this is against the OPS (if you are a registered UK osteopath, because you are working outside your scope of practice) and it is unsafe and unprofessional. Horses and dogs are NOT the same creatures. They suffer vastly different pathologies, live very different lives and any good osteopath knows that a wide range of external and internal factors affect the health of any creature. So, if you want to treat animals, please learn properly.

Our Level I Pathway will give you solid basis upon which to grow as a practitioner. Offering you a much better chance at competing in today’s animal market long term. If you want to be a safe practitioner, start the right way and don’t cut corners.

All AOI courses are built with RAMP criteria and expectations in mind. And we will guide anyone who asks for help. We want what is best for you and will do whatever we can to direct you accordingly. For more information about our Level I Canine Pathway that starts in July, click HERE