Nathalie Janssen is a Certified Animal Physiotherapist, Certified Canine Fitness Trainer CCFT and a Canine Sports Massage Therapist. For the first 16 years of her professional career, she has worked in Finance in Luxembourg. However, working with dogs was really a passion she could not put aside.
Nathalie graduated in Animal Physiotherapy from The College of Animal Physiotherapy in 2014, finishing her thesis on the Management of Osteoarthritis. Nathalie went on to complete a certification in Canine Sports Massage Therapy and also qualified as a Canine Fitness Trainer CCFT at the University of Tennessee.
Nathalie has her own animal physiotherapy practice in Luxembourg. She has a keen interest in canine osteoarthritis and it’s management, specifically via a multi-modal approach. She works closely together with a veterinary acupuncturist and a veterinary osteopath. Nathalie’s dog Jake, now 15 has been diagnosed with osteoarthritis as she is keen to develop ways to keep him as active and pain free as possible and enjoying his daily walks.
Nathalie is currently featured on our Facebook page with 7 days of physiotherapy tips to combat osteoarthritis.
She kindly took the time to answer some questions from us on managing canine arthritis.
Where do you feel osteoarthritis management is heading?
I believe a lot of education still has to be done both with pet parents and veterinarians to recognise the signs of pain from osteoarthritis and how to best manage this. Specifically, the multi-modal approach, as a compliment to – rather than an alternative of – veterinary care, needs to be promoted and accepted so that it can become mainstream. It is therefore crucial that programs such as CAM exist to help educate the pet parents as well as the veterinary world, as in the end we all have the same goal: to get our pets to live as long and active and pain free as possible!