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Hi Laurie,

I've read several of your articles these last days and considering we're oceans appart I thought of giving it a shot and email you a situation.

My dog, a White Swiss Sheppard, had TPO surgery to his right leg on Dec 28th. During surgery, there was a large internal bleeding as per thr doctor, which closed on itself. Since then, 6 days into the surgery the body swelling started to go down and bruises look a bit better.

Problem is he is not controlling his paw anymore, actually he doesn't seem to feel it. If you touch the area he only reacts around the knee but not lower. The doctor is saying that this should improve after all the blood gets absorbed from the nerves. But my feeling is that his sciatic nerve was affected.

Have you seen this kind of injury after a TPO surgery? Can this be rehabilitated over time?

Thanks a lot!
C

Hi C,

Okay… so I am getting to this now!

I have heard of this happening once before. It was actually a dog down in the US and the owner contacted me (friend of a friend of a friend) and I helped her through.
In her case the nerve was thought to have been injured during the surgery.

Okay… so yes, I think there is hope that the nerve can return.

I would do anything I could to stimulate nerve repair / regeneration at the pelvis and nerve roots: L6, L7, S1, then track it down to caudally around the greater trochanter and a few centimeters below that. I’d use Laser and PEMF. Theoretically you could use U/S to promote absorption of the bruise / bleed.
Acupuncture / acupressure / TENS or laser to acupoints - tracing the Bladder meridian for the most part.
Manually, I’d do effleurage to help move / dissipate any swelling and help normalize the tissues and promote normal tissue metabolism.
ROM for the same.
You could do Nerve glides for the Sciatic Nerve - 2 sets of 20, once or twice a day.
In the mean time, I’d protect the foot (toe ups, dorsiflex assist, or create a toe up sock (I have some videos on FourLeg - Video 203 Proprioceptive Foot Wraps, Video 167 Toe Ups, Video 127 Temporary Foot Protection.)

And then it is a bit of ‘Wait and See’ with your fingers crossed.

Wishing you the best of luck!

Laurie