Superficial Digital Flexor Tendon

[lehughes]

Hi Laurie,

I saw your website and was wondering if you have any more resources relating the injuries of the superficial digital flexor tendon (dog). My 11 year old large breed dog was hiking with us this past week and he came up lame. I immediately noticed that the toes on his back leg (2 middle toes) were completely flattened out. When I palpated his foot and leg there was no obvious swelling, but when I would move those two toes I wasn’t feeling any movement in that tendon… definitely different from his “good” foot.

We saw a veterinary orthopedist today and she said she didn’t think it was a full tear, but a hyperextension and there wasn’t much to be done. I’ve been using the Assisi loop on the foot, I have him on anti-inflammatories, and am wondering if there is anything else that can be done for this type of injury. I was planning on doing cold laser too. There isn’t much information out there. Was wondering if you know of any resources?


Thanks!
Gia

[lehughes]

Hi Gia,

Sorry for my tardy reply.

Unfortunately, the veterinary orthopedist is correct. There isn’t much to be done.
Essentially the tendon would have popped right off of it’s attachment on the bone.
So without surgery, it won’t reattach. And surgery for such things is typically not done because it’s finicky and would have a poor success rate.
If your dog was a person, sometimes we can use a finger splint to hold the finger in place and the tendon might reattach… but in a dog, they’re weight bearing on the leg and contracting that tendon (and pulling the attachment upwards) with each and every step.

Sorry to be the 2nd bearer of bad news. If you think your dog is now painful, then you could look into a boot with padding for the foot when hiking.
They tend to be okay in the long run… not very painful.

Best of luck!

Laurie

[David Lane]

3rd voice of bad news. Apparently when these tendons go, they lack holding power for the suture material and that is why surgery fails.