Hi Laurie,
I will be seeing a Duck Tolling Retriever, Female, 2 years old. She is a field dog and the owner plans on running hunt tests this Summer with her. She recently noticed this skip in the dog's gait. She has not been to her regular vet yet and there are no radiographs. She wants me to evaluate it first.
My question: I know a skipping gait can be luxating patella, luxating SDF tendon, any soft tissue injury, or an injured long digital extensor tendon. I know generally where the LDE tendon lives, but can you guide me on palpating it and what I'm looking for. It'll pop if luxating? Pain if torn? I've never seen one of these before and I'm not certain I'll be able to diagnose it without some imaging.
I wasn't able to find information specific to this tendon on the FourLeg site, so I thought I'd message you direct.
As always, thank you so much for your help and guidance. I truly value you!
Kindest Regards,
L
Long Digital Extensor Tendon
Re: Long Digital Extensor Tendon
Hi L,
I have to admit that this is one thing that in all my years, I have never gotten to see! There was a conversation about it a while ago… and I hunted down some papers / abstracts. I'll provide the links here:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24479885/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27872726/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29089654/
In regards to palpating for it. It lives along the joint line between the patellar tendon and the Lateral Collateral Ligament. Just run your finger tip or finger nail along the joint line (moving laterally from the patellar tendon) and the first ‘obstruction’ you feel should be the LDE. It’s smaller than the LCL.
Beyond that, I have never seen one! (From the videos, I’ll be surprised if that’s it! But your assessment will tell you more!)
So the other skipping issue I’ve seen is a motor control and timing issue (i.e. SIJ dysfunction or L/S dysfunction and subsequent timing issue of the abdominals… so the timing goes off.) This would just be a matter of doing your overall assessment and doing the 3-leg standing / leg slide test to watch if the pelvis drops. THIS I have videos of on FourLeg.
I hope this helps! I’ll be eager to hear what you find!
Laurie
I have to admit that this is one thing that in all my years, I have never gotten to see! There was a conversation about it a while ago… and I hunted down some papers / abstracts. I'll provide the links here:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24479885/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27872726/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29089654/
In regards to palpating for it. It lives along the joint line between the patellar tendon and the Lateral Collateral Ligament. Just run your finger tip or finger nail along the joint line (moving laterally from the patellar tendon) and the first ‘obstruction’ you feel should be the LDE. It’s smaller than the LCL.
Beyond that, I have never seen one! (From the videos, I’ll be surprised if that’s it! But your assessment will tell you more!)
So the other skipping issue I’ve seen is a motor control and timing issue (i.e. SIJ dysfunction or L/S dysfunction and subsequent timing issue of the abdominals… so the timing goes off.) This would just be a matter of doing your overall assessment and doing the 3-leg standing / leg slide test to watch if the pelvis drops. THIS I have videos of on FourLeg.
I hope this helps! I’ll be eager to hear what you find!
Laurie
LAURIE EDGE-HUGHES