Meet the Vet Physio team: Carly Atkinson

Today we continue to meet the Veterinary Physiotherapy team, who work to share their knowledge of how best to care and treat animals in need of rehabilitation. As the sector expands, our professionals continue to promote the very best of animal care for our students to learn from. Whether it is manual techniques, electrotherapies or exercise therapy, lecturers like Carly Atkinson have the knowledge to make students industry ready.

Carly has the best of both worlds as a registered veterinary nurse and qualified veterinary physiotherapist. She commented: “I previously worked as a veterinary nurse in small animal and mixed practice for several years. I worked predominantly on the canine side, and have a keen interest in treating elderly, arthritic patients.”

This led Carly to pursue a physiotherapy qualification, to work with the patients she wanted to help the most. She qualified in 2015 and, following two years of work, joined Harper and the team in 2017.

With the switch over to physiotherapy, Carly shared why this change was the right one for her, saying: “There is nothing as rewarding as working as a veterinary physiotherapist - other than teaching veterinary physiotherapy, of course!

“You develop close bonds with your patients, and become one of their favourite people, because you make them feel better. Not only do you get to improve the comfort and performance of animals, you get to meet some wonderful owners along the way.”

To work with Carly inside the classroom and develop your own skill set to become an accredited professional, see our course programme for veterinary physiotherapy.