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Royal
Vet College first for veterinary physiotherapy
A
NEW academic year at The Royal Veterinary College sees the appointment
of the first dedicated lecturer in Veterinary Physiotherapy
in the country.
This new role will involve supervisory responsibility for both
clinical and academic physiotherapy within the College.
Tracy Cook, 40, has been appointed and was one of the first
MSc in Veterinary Physiotherapy students to graduate from the
college this summer. Tracy is a Member of the Chartered Society
of Physiotherapy, a State Registered Practitioner, and a member
of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Animal Therapy
(ACPAT). She has been a practitioner in physiotherapy for both
dogs and horses for the past ten years.
‘This new role is certainly a UK and international first’,
says Tracy, commenting on her new appointment, ‘there is
no other lectureship post in any other veterinary school which
requires a qualified physiotherapist. I am very keen to promote
and advance the use of physiotherapy as a mainstream treatment
with veterinary medicine, and I see my new position as providing
the ideal opportunity to do that.’
As well as supervising Veterinary Physiotherapy research, Tracy
will be responsible for developing The Royal Veterinary College’s
first in-house clinical physiotherapy service. She anticipates
that demand for this new service will grow as the benefits of
animal physiotherapy become substantiated by clinical research.
Tracy freely admits that the combine academic and clinical roles
will be a challenge, but it is a prospect she is clearly relishing.
As she says, ‘It’s not every day one has the opportunity
to act as a pioneer and champion for the physiotherapy profession,
and to be able to do so at a College as well-respected as The
Royal Veterinary College, makes it even more of a privilege.
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