Atlas Rehabilitation for Canines - ARC

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Atlas Rehabilitation for Canines - ARC

Atlas Rehabilitation for Canines (ARC) was established to improve the quality of life for animals. Karen Atlas, PT, MPT, CCRT and William J.

It is with great excitement and anticipation that we introduce our community to Atlas Rehabilitation for Canines (ARC). ARC is Santa Barbara’s only stand-alone canine rehabilitation and performance facility led by certified and licensed professionals. Otto, DVM have joined together to offer comprehensive rehabilitation services to the Central Coast. Karen is a licensed and experienced human physic

al therapist with advanced training and certification in canine rehabilitation. For the past 8 years she has served as the Director of Rehabilitation at Hydropaws Animal Rehabilitation and Performance Center. She has devoted her life to serve the pets and their people in her hometown community of Santa Barbara. She has teamed up with a well-known and respected local veterinarian, Dr. William Otto. ARC’s state-of-the-art facility is fully equipped with the latest underwater treadmill, cold laser therapy (class 3b), therapeutic ultrasound, Alpha-Stimulation (CES), pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF), electrical stimulation (NMES and TENS), as well as innovative land based exercise equipment. More importantly, it is Karen’s unique knowledge base and manual therapy skills from her 20 years of experience as a licensed physical therapist that has contributed to the success of her practice with animals. We welcome you to visit our new facility on or after June 5th at: 3208 State Street (near the corner of State and Las Positas next to Salon Patine). Parking is in the back. Or call us at (805) 724-4ARC (4272). We will be officially opening our doors for service on Monday, June 5th. To make an appointment, you can call on or after Wednesday, May 24th. We will only accept patients on a referral basis. Once a patient is referred to ARC by their primary veterinarian, they will undergo an evaluation by Dr. Otto before seeing Karen for rehab services. This evaluation will be done to stay in compliance with the Veterinary Practice Act and will not be a substitute for primary veterinary care. ABSOLUTELY NO PRIMARY VETERINARY CARE WILL BE OFFERED AT ARC. ARC is committed and limited to rendering rehab services only. We vow to stay in good communication with your referring veterinarians to provide our clients with the most collaborative healthcare approach available. We believe the client is best served when they have a team of qualified professionals working together in the best interest of their pet. Sincerely,

Karen Atlas, PT, MPT, CCRT
Founder and Director of Animal Rehabilitation

08/08/2026

Love what Jill and Cody do at Shadow’s Fund.
Help support them and raise a glass on August 22! 🍷

08/06/2026

When you’re exercising in front of a sign that says INSPIRE, there’s no one more fitting than Charlie.

Keep calm and inspire on, Charlie. We’re all cheering for you! ✨

Don’t you think his smile is contagious? I mean, I can’t even look at him without smiling! 🤗

08/04/2026

Testing conscious proprioception (CP’s) gives us insight into neurologic function.

When the paw is flipped onto the dorsal aspect (top of the paw), the dog should correct the position right away. But as you can see, Apple has no awareness of her hindlimb position.

Her CP’s, therefore, are not intact.
We did notice her look back to see what was going on, so there may be some core/body awareness, but she doesn’t have any hind end extremity

08/02/2026

Completely unedited beauty.

I play music from my phone when I ride which is why you can’t hear the waves, but the sound of the waves filled my senses too.
Oh…and there were dolphins last night too. 🐬

How do you stay balanced in this world?

08/01/2026

Another edition of “let’s talk dog talk.”

Watch how much Stella tells us here during a re-exam by Karen Atlas.

Watch when Karen Atlas palpates C6 (and a bit of C7), Stella responds by licking at the front part of both front limbs.

💡When you hit an irritated nerve, it can send signals (numbness, tingling, sharp/shooting pain) down one or both extremity(extremities).

💡Dogs don’t really know what to do with those strange sensations, so they can respond by licking at them. Those behaviors help us practitioners know exactly where the ‘root’ (literally and figuratively) of the problem is. Based on the dogs response to our hands-on exams, our plan of care can be developed with better specificity to meet the needs of the individual.

🛑Disclaimer: this is for educational purposes and not intended to be instructive. Please do not try this palpation technique on your own pet. There are a lot of sensitive structures that run in and through that area and unless you are a trained professional, you could do more harm than good.

to share the canine rehab love

Address

3208 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA
93105

Telephone

+18057244272

Website

http://www.atlasrehabforcanines.com/

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