Scales for Measuring Weight Bearing

[lehughes]

Hello again!

I hope all is well in Canada!

I was watching your Iliopsoas lecture (awesome information, BTW!!) and it brought me to your Return to Sport Check List (also awesome!).

I don't see many sporting dogs, but I was thinking of making one of these for my geriatric cases (more of a functional checklist) and post-ops.

For the weight bearing section, I don't have a stance analyzer so I typically use pictures/videos/visual eval. I saw that bathroom scales were mentioned...how would those be used for stance analysis? One under each paw to see if the front legs are the same weight and the back legs are the same?

I love your site and always learn so much from you! It is always much appreciated

Have a great day,

SB

[lehughes]

Hi Stephanie,

Okay… so this is a GREAT idea for the seniors. The Post-Ops are simpler - thigh circumference and weight bearing… and then some of the basic stuff from the return to sport.

Now, onto the scales. I think the best way to go about it would be 2 scales and do front legs or back legs. Maybe the opposite pairs up on a step bench or something of a similar height to the scales (i.e. front feet on a step bench and a scale under each rear foot). Four scales would be too much to manage… and from what we see with our Stance Analyzer, it’s tricky enough to keep feet where they need to be and have the dog standing as square as possible.

Did I get all of the questions???

All the best,

Laurie