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This one is proving to be a head scratcher for me. Am hoping for some insight on this 9 year old F/S mixed breed, 35 lbs very very active dog. Her owners report seeing stiffness at times with both hind limbs. She also shifts her weight bearing back and forth between hind limbs, not constantly but one day will appear to be carrying more weight on one hind limb and a week later on the opposite. I shot slow motion video of her climbing a flight of stairs since this was an area of concern for her owners.

The first pass looked normal, the second pass you could see her start carrying her tail to the right on ascent. On the third, she would take two steps with her Left hind, carry her tail in the center on the ascent. Her descents on all three looked to have normal paw placement, correct posture and tail position.

Upon palpation the only area of tenderness I could appreciate was at her Right Sacratuberous Ligament.

She does not exhibit any signs of lameness at a trot. I took video of that at the same time.

Two years ago, she was treated for an U/S diagnosed ilio strain. Post treatment, a second U/S was done, and the DVM said it had resolved.

Around that same time period, she had a tail injury (couldn't lift her tail) from an unknown incident while boarding. Radiographs were taken which showed soft tissue injury, +/- nerve involvement, but no dislocation to the vertebrae. She was able to fully lift her tail within two weeks.

Any thoughts on what I may be missing? Thank you in advance for any thoughts.
Denise

Hi Denise!

Interesting case! My FIRST thought is lumbosacral disc disease. It would fit with the shifting lameness, the unwillingness to go UP stairs, and the odd tail carriage.... and could tie in with the injury at the boarding kennel.

With the pain at the sacrotuberous ligament, I'd suspect SIJ dysfunction as well, that could be contributing to the problem (as it will impact position / mobility of L7).

So, I'd treat it as if it's L-S disc disease - tail pulls, laser, L7 mobs, & maybe standing traction or hanging traction (depends on height of the dog)... acup or shockwave if you have those.
And some easy core stability exercises - progressing to core stability when stretched out farther.

The SIJ could be tricky. Check out the SIJ papers in the Articles section. Sacrotuberous ligament could be tender with a caudal slipped ilium or a dorsal rotation. Try a generic 'gapping' treatment as your first line of defence. I find that if you do them sort of like CPR on the pelvis, it's often enough to solve most SIJ issues.

I hope this helps!

Cheers,
Laurie

Thank you so very much Laurie. Very much appreciated!
Will keep you posted.
Denise