Iliopsoas & Schutzhund

[lehughes]

Laurie

Long time no talk. I can’t even imagine how busy you must be between clinic, lectures and ranch. Was hoping to get to Staar this year but not sure if the USD exchange will allow for a $6000 weekend!!! Any chance you do your Myofascial lectures/lab somewhere north of the border???

I have a bit of a frustrating case. Its a 18mo GSD that will do IPO/Schutzhund work. He came up with an awkward gait in the rear end (owner is very good recognizing gait abnormalities). He started with some mild SI issues that we had been managing 6 months ago. then in late Oct he overextended in the rear after a jump, was OK initially and then after a couple more days of regular training he was favouring the RHL. Of course now its the dreaded iliopsoas muscle. It did not seem that bad and was doing well with some laser and targeted exercise. He had been coming along well and has been doing land treadmill (at the owners house) limited biking but no hard drive training. Last week he did one push off the leg and was visibly lame for several days. Still seems to be the psoas muscle.

She is now freaking that he will never be strong enough to train and compete (she has gone to world’s with previous dogs). I have rehabbed many of these back into field and agility work but Schutzhund dogs require so much power in the rear I am looking for some added suggestions on how to get him up to speed. He has already missed some training wit the injury which I am sure he will catch up on but she would like to get hm back into the swing of things. She has a laser at home and land treadmill. I have instructed her to laser the area every other day for now, do some weight bearing hip extension exercises, and small amounts of treadmill/bike work at a trot to encourage full extension. She can not walk fast enough with him on leash to get a good gait going otherwise.

Thoughts??

T.

[lehughes]

Hey Tracey!

Long time no talk indeed! Life is indeed crazy! At this point, nothing scheduled for Canada for the MFR course. I think I need a manager!!!

Now as for your Schutzhund dog. You’re right, the power at which they drive and fling themselves is crazy. But that’s likely what needs to be trained / worked up to.

Okay… so you are not always back to square 1 after an incident, but they do need to back off slightly when there is a flare up.
She could laser every day. There’s no need to limit it to every second day in a case like this where the owner has a laser and there is nothing to say that daily laser is bad - to the contrary, it’s likely good.
Back to the exercise component.
The basics
- Front feet elevated reaching upwards for a treat. Raise the height of the front feet to get a maximal stretch as much as tolerated.
- Rear feet elevated reaching forwards and down for a treat. Also raise this height to whatever maximum can be tolerated / workable

Trotting / Biking / Treadmill - I agree with you for these. They can be part of a build up & overall conditioning.

Explosiveness Training - Here’s where they need to start training when the lameness subsides. Ideas:
- Jumping up onto the bed, back of the vehicle, picnic table… etc. Start with a straight line, then work from diagonals. Jump from a stand. Jump from a sit.
- Hitting the sleeve from a close distance… and work to the longer runs and harder hits as the dog progresses
- Short retrieves in a confined area. Retrieving from a sit/ wait. From a Stand. Going different direction. Then progressively farther and farther away.
- Retrieves over a broad jump. Retrieves over a regular jump
- Tug of war over obstacles (like a broad jump - weaving back and forth over it as you tug). I really like tug as an concentric exercise for the iliopsoas.

Does this help? I’m trying to think of things more creative or ‘sexier’ than these… but I really think these will do the trick!

Good luck!

Laurie

[David Lane]

Hello,

Can you localize the lesion specifically? Is it on the muscle itself, or the tendon?

If it is in the muscle, and given the breed, I would wonder about an underlying issue... Radiographs of the hips (preferably PennHIP rather tha OFA hip extended view) to rule out underlying hip dyspasia, and to screen the lumbosacral joint. If there is evidence of LS disease, progress to CT or even MRI, but if something is already up on rads in an 18m dog, then that answers the question about a long term IPO career.

If it is in the tendon, I would get it ultrasounded to make sure their isn't substantial damage requiring more down time and additional Tx (ESWT or regen med). FWIW, I have a 3 strike rule with the iliopsoas... if it keeps recurring, then I start pushing for imaging to see if I can puzzle out the underlying reason why.

Plus everything LEH said.