Hello All,
I am working with an exuberant 1 1/2 yr old golden retriever that is 4 weeks out on a bilateral elbow arthrotomy. He has bilateral medial coronoid disease and OCD of medial humeral condyle on the left side. Pain is mostly controlled. Clients are great about massage and stretching. Not so great at restrictions and he is able to get up and off the beds, couches, or no leash restriction. I am finding that we are slowly losing flexion to the left elbow and at my most recent visit, I am feeling more crepitus than I like being this soon post op, and losing a 5+ degrees of flexion. Extension is normal. I laser, massage and perform low load stretching, grade 1 and 2 mobilizations, low pole walkings, and down to stands. The right side is beautiful. I am worried I am losing ground and wondering if there is anything I can do to slow the process. The surgeon said she had never removed that much cartilage from a joint before so I know the elbow may always show some disease effect. Thank you for your help!
Missi
Bilateral Elbow Arthrotomy
Re: Bilateral Elbow Arthrotomy
Hi Missy,
Thanks for posting!
So, cartilage is KEY to joint health. Right off the bat, I'd get this dog on a joint supplement, perhaps Adequan injections as well, and I'd have them consider stem cell injections. I'd laser more than what you're doing. I'm just going to assume that you need to laser more. You can always laser more. The traditional WAALT, NAALT dosing suggestions are much much too low and do not correlate with advances in research. When doing mobilizations, you'll have to go more into a a grade 3 or 4 if you want to increase ROM. Grades 1 & 2 are really just good for pain relief. You can 'start' with them within your mobilizing session, but work up to a grade 3 or 4 to get better ROM.
I'd also try for some 'push up' type exercises (rear feet up on a stool/step and offer a cookie from down by the front toes).
Sounds like a tough one! Good luck!
Laurie
Thanks for posting!
So, cartilage is KEY to joint health. Right off the bat, I'd get this dog on a joint supplement, perhaps Adequan injections as well, and I'd have them consider stem cell injections. I'd laser more than what you're doing. I'm just going to assume that you need to laser more. You can always laser more. The traditional WAALT, NAALT dosing suggestions are much much too low and do not correlate with advances in research. When doing mobilizations, you'll have to go more into a a grade 3 or 4 if you want to increase ROM. Grades 1 & 2 are really just good for pain relief. You can 'start' with them within your mobilizing session, but work up to a grade 3 or 4 to get better ROM.
I'd also try for some 'push up' type exercises (rear feet up on a stool/step and offer a cookie from down by the front toes).
Sounds like a tough one! Good luck!
Laurie
LAURIE EDGE-HUGHES