fourleg.com

Laurie,

Last week I saw a 4 1/2 year old FS boxer for left tarsal swelling. The dog injured the leg in Oct. while playing with another dog. She was favoring the left hind leg. There was swelling of the left tarsus, mostly along the cranial part of the tarsus. no fractures. They tried 2 courses of deramaxx with no help. She saw our surgeon the beginning of Jan. The dog was not lame at the time, but the joint was swollen. He did joint taps. no infection, and cells consistent with traumatic injury. I saw her last week. Not limping on the leg. No pain on manipulation of the joint, but there is swelling cranial, medial and laterally at the tarsus. There is decreased range of motion on flexion, extension is normal. My thermal imaging camera did show increased heat at the tarsus and can also palpate a difference in heat between the right and left tarsus. Even though she was not limping at a walk, when standing, she does mildly shift weight off the leg. When she plays or goes for long walks, she will start to limp on the leg again. Any idea what is going on with the joint? And what to do for her? I did laser the joint while she was here.

Thanks,
LW

Hi L.,

Okay, so I problem has to be in the joint. OCD would be my first thought… perhaps with the joint mouse being able to migrate to a spot just outside of the joint… but still creating inflammation to the joint.

You don’t think it’s a tendon? Any hyperextension / slipped hock type of issues?

I’ve seen a handful of times, damage to the short collateral ligaments with a wee bony avulsion (resulting in swelling to the joint) - requiring surgical removal.
Even if no bony avulsion, could cause a wee bit of instability and subsequently inflammation.

Could it just be early OA… without visible radiographic changes? (radiographic changes are always preceded by clinical finding anyways.) This ties in with the wee bit of instability theory above.

What to do?

So, if the surgeon isn’t thinking there’s an OCD lesion, then he/she isn’t likely going to want to explore the joint. (But that could be a further discussion.)
Conservatively: laser, shockwave, PEMF, acupuncture, nutraceuticals and/or anti-inflammatories could be used. Perhaps also a tarsal wrap just for support / proprioception. For this kind of a thing I actually tend to recommend the Back On Track braces with ceramic fibres (warms the joint).

Those are my thoughts to get you started anyways. I hope they help!

Laurie