Hanging Traction Question

[lehughes]

Hi Laurie

Please can I ask you a question re hanging traction.

4 year old Dachshund who has had 2 IVDD surgeries.
First one in June, most recent one in August this year
She’s now at the stage where she can stand unaided - hind right having better function than her left.
Deep pain is present, but negative knuckle reflex
Very engaged and onboard owner

I have tried the hanging traction technique you cover on your fab website.
I have been supporting the majority of her hind body weight – keeping her spine as straight as possible
having her turned on her side (ie she’s facing/left or right as opposed to her spine being directly against my chest looking outwards)
I wanted to test her response and didn’t feel confident enough to let her just hang due to having 2 previous surgeries.
I have been dragging her feet against objects ie a chair, a table, to see if she reaches out for them to steady herself – she doesn’t

Question
I have started to notice her hind left (the weaker limb) is starting to quiver/shake after having her in this position for around 1 min
Is this good? Bad? Was thinking it could be the limb waking up a bit more (she has also chewed off the nails from this limb – now on gabapentin which has stopped her wanting to)
I don’t want to cause any additional issues or making something worse

Any advice would be welcome. I always feel slightly more insecure with neuro cases …….

Thank you!
HK

[lehughes]

Hi H!

I agree that many of us get a bit nervous about the neuro dogs. Over the years I have come to realize that they are way more resilient than we give them credit for! And they seem more resilient than human spinal cord injury patients too! (Different mechanism of injury perhaps.)

Anyways, you don’t mention the levels of her surgeries. That might add to the mix of what you’re seeing!

Not one of your questions, but what I’m going to answer first. Let her hang. Full body weight. I’d concede caution in an acute post op case (but more from the standpoint of the incision more than anything.) At this point, let her hang!

Now, your question:
I actually think that the leg quiver is a good sign after the traction! If she was chewing that foot and gabapentin stopped it… then I think “lower motor neuron” issue / nerve root compression. In which case, traction would be great! (And ties into my comment asking about the levels of surgeries).

Additionally, I think you need to spend equal parts treating the root of the problem (spinal cord / nerves) and function (placing reflex / function).
So, I went into FourLeg to find a video of the Kick Back exercise that I like / prescribe for retraining the placing reflex. I know it’s imbedded in something… but instead, I just made this into my next FourLegRehabMinute video, and you get to see it first!
Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/D4HpkQvPQ68

I hope this helps! Keep it up and best of luck!

Cheers,

Laurie

[physiomydog]

Hi

Just figured out my password to reply via the forum

But to answer your question, the dog had the below surgeries

Left T10-L1 hemilaminectomy and durotomy (19/06/21).
Intervertebral disc extrusion and right T12-T13 mini-hemilaminectomy (14/08/21).

Since writing that email to you, the dog is now walking!!

Any guidance on how much of an impact hanging traction is likely to have now she’s walking …. ??

Thank you so much!

[lehughes]

Hooray the dog is walking!!!!

So to answer your question, I will use one of my favourite sayings, "I think all small long backed dogs should be hung."



So, while the immediate benefit to the area in question is less at this time. I do think it's a great exercise for all dachshunds as a preventative treatment for future discs. As such, I teach all Daxie owners how to hand their dog.

In regards to the foot chewing and a T-L region disc. That doesn't add up to be a lower motor neuron sign coming from that area. But why not just a weird sensation period? We don't really know what they feel as their legs come back to function...

I'm glad it's all working out!

Cheers,

Laurie