Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
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Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
Dr Noel McKnight:Transforming Pet Recovery at Sound Animal Rehab and Fitness
Ever wondered how to give your furry friends a quality of life beyond traditional veterinary care? Dr. Noel McKnight, founder of Sound Animal Rehab and Fitness in Birmingham, AL, joins us to share her innovative approach to pet rehabilitation. From hydrotherapy and laser treatments to acupuncture and massage, Dr. McKnight's clinic is revolutionizing how pets regain mobility and vitality. Discover the transformative stories of geriatric dogs and post-op patients who have found new leases on life through these groundbreaking therapies.
In this episode, Dr. McKnight addresses common misconceptions about pet rehabilitation and offers insights into making these vital services accessible and affordable for pet owners. Learn about the various modalities employed at her clinic and why it's crucial for pet owners to consider alternatives to the standard rest and medication route often recommended by veterinarians. Whether you're a pet owner seeking to improve your pet's wellness or simply curious about emerging veterinary care trends, you won't want to miss this enlightening conversation!
#SoundAnimalRehab #DrNoelMcKnight #PetRehabilitation #PetCareInnovation #HydrotherapyForPets #PetLaserTherapy #PetAcupuncture #PetMassage #BirminghamVets #GeriatricPets #PostOpPetCare #PetWellness #VeterinaryCare #PetHealth #InnovativePetCare #AnimalRehab #PetFitness #PetOwners #PetRecovery #EnlighteningConversation
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Patricia Blondheim.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, patricia Blondheim, and today we have good neighbor, dr Noelle McKnight, and Dr McKnight is the founder of Sound Animal Rehab and Fitness in Birmingham. Dr McKnight, how are you today? I'm good. How are you? I'm doing fine, thank you. I am excited to speak to you about Sound Animal Rehab and Fitness. I think a lot of people maybe don't know about you and don't know about what you're doing. Let's talk about that. Tell me a little bit about Sound Animal Rehab and Fitness.
Speaker 3:Sound is one of it is Birmingham's only veterinary physical therapy for lack of better terms and fitness clinics in Birmingham. In Birmingham, we are the only place that has veterinary physical therapy acupuncture, massage, exercise therapy all the things you'd get in a normal physical therapy facility for humans. We do all that here, but we do it for dogs and cats.
Speaker 2:Well, tell me, break that down a little bit for me, because I think a lot of people are used to taking their animals into their, into their, their, their vets, and getting the, the anti-inflammatory, and the, you know, possibly the, the antibiotic, and then you know that's probably about the extent that most animal owners think about as far as pain or dysfunction in their pet. Explain a little bit more about what you do.
Speaker 3:Well. So rehabilitation, which is the veterinary term in our state, is physical therapy. Human physical therapists use the words physical therapy, so rehabilitation always kind of confuses people. But you know, our field is on the cutting edge. It is a fairly new fledgling of an area of practice. It's very prominent up north. You can find it, you know, in New York and Ohio and Seattle. It's very prominent there.
Speaker 3:But in the South it's been a little lagging and I think that's because for various reasons. But it is a new service that's being offered in this area and people don't know about it because it's not been around to be offered. So, you know, I think it has to do with the general practitioners and the vets letting their clients know that we're here. There's a lot more that you can do with an animal except for, you know, rest and incense, and our service has not been available. So that's why we're talking to you, to let people know that we are here and that there are other options than just rest and medication, that there's actually things that we can do to help their pets get back on their feet.
Speaker 2:What kind of modalities do you employ?
Speaker 3:So I think the bread and butter of what we do is hydrotherapy. We do underwater treadmill therapy, we do laser therapy. I do acupuncture massage, exercise therapy. We do a good bit of cart fittings. We do cart exercise sessions for dogs that are learning how to walk in carts or dogs that need that extra support in a cart while they do their rehabilitation. We do a lot of you know range of motion. I would say 40% of our clients are pre or post-op from an orthopedic procedure that a surgeon sent them over for recovery, just like you would have in human medicine. We do a lot of geriatrics, so mobility issues with arthritis, which is one of my favorites. They're so rewarding when you can get an old dog. They can barely walk in your clinic and three or four sessions later they're trotting out the door. So that's always fun. And we see a lot of neurology patients that have had back injuries or mostly back injuries, or just any other type of neurologic condition.
Speaker 2:So I guess we're dealing with a lot of misconceptions when people look at your clinic. Do you want to talk about those?
Speaker 3:So I think the biggest misconception is why is it called rehab? The name is sound animal rehab and fitness and the reason it's called that is because we can't use the word PT or physical therapy in the state based on our laws and our practice acts. And you know, I don't think. I think when people figure out what we are, you know, I think the primary thing that I often see is well, you know, how can I afford physical therapy for my dog? And we do everything we can to make that affordable for you and figure out how.
Speaker 3:You know what can we do that's going to give you the most bang for your buck in your certain situation situation and, as you know, people's pets care team between their surgeon, their general practitioner and us, you know we work together to figure out what's best for their pet. But you know it does require a little bit more money than what you're used to spending, but it's often a very good resource if your dog is not a good surgical candidate or there's nothing else is working and medication's not helping. So I think the biggest misconception is number one I don't know what it is and that it's available. Number two is can I afford it? And the answer to the question is it is available now and, yes, we can figure out how to make you. You know, get your pet in to see what they need Well.
Speaker 2:I fall into the subset of people actually rescue dogs. I'm almost ashamed to say, because that you know that that connotates this idea, that I have 12 dogs and I have had more than than I want to have. But I have net down now down to a very handleable three, and part of the reason I do this is because I I prefer animals to people. I mean, I love people, but there's there's nothing I wouldn't do for my pet and um this, and I just didn't think I had the ability to use a service like yours. I didn't know that was available outside of traveling to, you know, possibly the vet school in Mississippi, right? So it's wonderful to know that you're here, thank you.
Speaker 3:I'm really glad to let everybody know that I'm here and you know, up until this point we have been referral-based only. In other words, I've only been talking to the referring vets. But if you're looking for help for your pet, all you have to do is call your vet. They have a code they can send a referral over and we'll get you in and see you Do people need a referral in order to access your.
Speaker 2:They do.
Speaker 3:They do, and that's because I'm a veterinarian and I like to know the complete medical history of any patient that I am about to exercise. So I like to see x-rays, blood work, whatever their most recent medical records are, so I can look at the entire patient and not just, oh, he's got a limp, but what am I working against? You know, do we have heart disease? You know, do we have, you know, a mass somewhere I need to know about. So, because we are a veterinary clinic, we do require a referral, but they're very easy to get. All you have to do is call your vet, call your vet right right, because you want to know the backstory and absolutely and the medical history for that animal.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, but it would be accessible if I decided that I wanted to get some acupuncture for my elderly dog's hips yes, all you have to do is call your vet and say would you give me a referral to sound?
Speaker 3:And they will, and then I'll, we'll schedule a new consult and I'll your pet would come in and I would do an exam like any other doctor would, from head to toe, and figure out you know what our problem is if he doesn't have a diagnosis and figure out what we need to do to help your baby. And you know that is always. The key is, you know, what do we want to focus on, especially with our geriatrics, which is my favorite category, because often they have multiple conditions that we're dealing with and you have to take all those into account when you're seeing a patient, true?
Speaker 2:So tell me a little bit about your journey, dr McKnight, how did you get here?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's an interesting question. So I wanted to be a vet my entire life but, like a lot of people, life got in the way. So I went to school at the age of 38 and graduated at 42. I went to Auburn University. I wanted to be a neurologist. So I was accepted into a rotating internship up in North Carolina, published a publication in Javma, which is our big medical journal here in the United States, and planned on doing a residency in neurology. But again life came in and got in the way and had to come home because my mother-in-law got sick. So neurology and physical therapy go hand in hand and we had a need in this city. There was not a rehab bed here. And there was, you know, I think there was hydrotherapy, but there wasn't a vet that did rehab medicine and I, you know, saw a niche and decided that's what I want to do, and I've never made a better decision in my life. It's the best job I've ever had.
Speaker 2:What do you do for fun, when I mean you've got a really overwhelming job and you're a business owner, but I love to travel.
Speaker 3:I really like to hike. I'm a huge reader If I can ever find the time to sit down and enjoy a good book. My husband and I both love to travel. We don't have children, we have dogs. So I have three dachshunds Gus, eva and Max. One of them has had back problems, so he is a patient fail, foster fail. Now he's mine. You know we love to travel, travel, we love to take them out hiking, going to the beach, um yeah, so that's my fun time what would you like our listeners to take away about sound animal rehab and fitness?
Speaker 3:I think one of the most important a couple of important aspects is that you have another choice, that you know medication and just medication. There's so much more out there that we can do to help your pet. And the second thing is don't wait too long. Often one of the biggest problems that I see is some of my clients will come in and their dog can't even walk and you know we could have intervened a year before that and help them not ever go down. So I think, knowing that we're here to help you and our job is to find ways to help you in a budget that you can afford, that will be the best plan for your pet. So come see us and don't wait too long. You know we can often help and prevent some of the things that happen, especially in our geriatric patients.
Speaker 2:Well, hopefully this will help people know that you're here and know what you do, and know that they have a choice to improve and maintain the lives of their beloved fur babies.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but there's just another option out there and it hasn't been an option before. So we're here now and we're here to help you.
Speaker 2:Well, how can our listeners reach you, how do they find Sound, animal Rehab and Fitness and how can they call you?
Speaker 3:Yes, ma'am. So it's soundanimalrehab-fitnesscom. That's our website. Our phone number is 205-977-7724. And our email address is animalrehabandfitness. You have to spell that A-N-D out at gmailcom.
Speaker 2:Wonderful. Thank you so much, dr McKnight, for coming and telling us all about this wonderful service that you offer, and I learned a lot.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbirminghamcom. That's gnpbirminghamcom, or call 205-952-0148.