Vickie China

I am so lucky to have a career I am passionate about, I qualified as a Galen Canine Myotherapist in 2015 and haven’t looked back. I now work in the Norfolk Community delivering treatments and workshops.

So, where did it all start? Many years ago I rescued an ex-racing greyhound called David, David always enjoyed his walks but in 2012 aged 7 he didn’t want to go anymore, he was in so much pain that he was struggling to walk.

Arthritis was diagnosed and he was prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs to manage the pain. By 2013 the medication was increasing and having a negative effect on his wellbeing, making him very lethargic, he wasn’t the same happy, ‘spirited’ (perhaps a bit too much at times!) dog he once was. One day I looked at him with his neck hunched over and pinched face I just thought, do you know what this dog needs a massage, I have back issues myself and have a regular massage, I know I would be in pain without it.

I researched dog massage therapists and found a Galen Therapy Centre, I booked myself onto the ‘Introduction To Canine Massage workshop’ with Julia Robertson. She was so inspiring, from that moment on I was hooked. I was then put in touch with Nicky Wreford my local therapist near Newmarket. She was amazing and between me doing techniques at home and 3 treatments with Nicky David was back to his old-self, I really could not believe the change. She advised he had lots of muscle tension in his neck and lots of spinal sensitivity which she relieved, quite often the effects of arthritis or ‘compensation issues’ are more painful than the arthritis itself. I couldn’t help but wonder how many other dogs have to put up with the effects of arthritis and other conditions and are only medicated to mask the pain and not treat it, so I decided to train so I could help as many dogs as possible.