2021, September 15
Hello, and I hope you are finding your way around my site. I do need to put a lot of work into it and intend to do so as soon as I’m able!
I am currently unable to respond to client requests or take on clients for rehabilitation consult or work. I am dealing with several “estates” as well as many related circumstances. I am removing the contact form, which is usually below, for the time being. Please continue to read the info on this page so that you find more direction about using my rehab programs.
Thank you!
Deborah, Rehabdeb
Who is Rehabdeb?
I am Deborah Carroll, “rehabdeb”, and I have a functional recovery and rehabilitation practice focused in small and large animal veterinary medicine as well as with humans dealing with chronic disease and with athletes.
I have over 40 years’ experience in animal and human sport science, exercise physiology, recovery program design, sport training and nutrition.
Rehbdeb is a nickname that others tacked onto me early in my career. I don’t mind it, and it’s super easy to use as a website address. My original website address was the name of my business, Rehabilitation and Conditioning for Animals. People can more easily remember rehabdeb when directed to go to my site.
I often have to explain why I developed the term “functional rehabilitation” for my practice and why I don’t call it pet “physical therapy”. We cannot call pet rehabilitation “physical therapy” in veterinary rehab because the human therapy-oriented association, The American Physical Therapy Association, says we cannot. The way I approach solving body function problems and my broad experience in wellness and biological health seems best represented by the term “functional rehabilitation”.
Rehabdeb Random Highlights –
For those of you who do not know me, I began the animal rehabilitation and conditioning department for a veterinary specialty hospital in Austin, Texas, at the end of 2004.
I designed the rehab facility layout & function, including acquiring equipment and contracting extra construction needs, and developed original rehabilitation programs that I worked to use in that venue for two years.
I decided to leave the specialty hospital at the end of 2006. In January of 2007, I began an independent and mobile rehabilitation practice. This meant I could work with a larger number of pets than I could in an exclusive clinic. I also saw the need to work in a broader environment to develop my non-surgical recovery programs. I have used advanced sports medicine and recovery practice techniques that exist in human medicine and turned them into a wider variety of successful recovery programs in small animal veterinary medicine.
Prior Experience –
Prior to building the rehab department for the hospital, I had extensive and varied experience working in recovery venues. I’ve worked with injured world-class athletes and with regular humans who have difficult or multiple medical issues. Please see my LinkedIn profile for more information.
I had also already been designing training programs for endurance sports since the 1970’s. It is aspects of both background experiences that have lent the most depth of knowledge and experience to my program designs for recovery from injury or surgery for our companion animals.
Naturally, this same background is imperative for designing training programs for competition animals! This is not taught to most veterinary rehabilitation professionals, and I hope to change that!
Rehabilitation Certification –
I also completed the coursework to become a Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner (CCRP) through the program at the University of Tennessee in 2005. I chose to complete both the veterinarian courses and the physical therapist courses. Unfortunately, exercise program periodization, exercise program design, and exercise physiology are not taught to practitioners seeking certification in veterinary rehabilitation. I hope to change that.
I develop techniques marrying the extensive information we have available from the “human side” about the above topics and about advances in neuroscience and neuro recovery as well. We need to change that this knowledge is not taught in our vocation.

I believe knowledge of and experience working in the above italicized disciplines is necessary to do the best work and meet the best outcomes in veterinary rehabilitation.
Sports Medicine and Strength Training Certifications –
I am a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® (CSCS®) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), which I have been a member of for several decades.
I am also a member of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) .
And I regularly attend conferences for both of these organizations.
I use principles of human sport science and functional recovery to improve the lives of the pets I work with, either in person or via this website and my books. It is this background that has given me the most informative tools to create and apply successful rehab programs.
I am also a…
Certified CPR/First Aid/AED (required for my CSCS and WFR certifications)
Wilderness First Responder (WFR) through National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and the Wilderness Medicine Institute (WMI)
Member Capitol Area Veterinary Medical Association (CAVMA) 2005-2017
Member International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management (IVAPM) 2007-2008
I use low-level (class IIIb) laser therapy to aid toward healing and have been to two international laser conferences.
Additional thoughts…
I often design my own tools or make something simple in order to work on something complicated.
(Sully in Sully Station to do His Neurological Recovery Drills)
I volunteer locally with Team Survivor, The Breast Cancer Resource Center, the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls, and the Texas Mamma Jamma Ride. It is very important to advocate for exercising after cancer diagnosis, during and after treatment, and I have focused on that extensively. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 after finding my own enlarged lump, a calcification that had been on my mammograms for several years.
Today is July 21, 2020, and I am chronologically 57 years old. Ultra trail running and a road cycling are my current personal focus sports, and I’ve also competed in fencing (sabre, foil, epee) and different equestrian disciplines, as well as triathlon, pistol shooting, track and field, and swimming. I worked for the US Cycling Federation (now USAcycling) for several years as a contract practitioner and also attended a cycling training development camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO in the 1980’s. I have created my personal recovery programs for my own large variety of injuries and surgeries!
Multi-modal pain relief, “pain control”, is very important to me. Giving appropriate pain medications post-injury and post-surgically for humans and other animals is important. I rarely work with a veterinary case wherein the pet is receiving enough of the “right” pain meds for their body and situation. See my pain post for more info.
I do 99% of my own social media, website fixing, marketing, writing, information technology, etc, etc…so this website rarely gets the updates it needs! I have been intending to add to this post (as I’m currently doing) for over a year.
Contact Info…
I am often unable to respond quickly to contact or comments because I am traveling and/or working. If I am traveling, I might not have consistent email, internet, or phone access.
I discuss many issues on this site, so I recommend you look through the Q&A . Please use the search feature to find specific topics. More info about how to get the most out of this site is on this page, “How Do I Find Help For My Pet on This Site?“.
More info about my practice and scheduling an appointment with me:
(Updated Sept. 15, 2021. First posted April 28, 2011)