Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Diagnosis

Yesterday we went up to see Margaret at the Canine Fitness and Rehab Center. Wicca did pretty good- she is not one of those touchy feely kind of dogs but with the promise of cookies she managed to stay put.

Margaret was overall impressed with her condition- good weight, lots of muscle, and a good pelvis, back and knees. Of course I knew where the trouble would be. When we got to her shoulders she has three main ouchie areas- her teres major- which is the muscle behind the leg that goes up across the shoulder blades and then down under the armpit- this is the muscle she said that was probably swollen right after the injury. Also her bicep on her right side was tender- which could be caused mostly by the strain on her teres major.

I asked what would have caused something like this, and what I can do in the future to prevent it- she is in agreement that her weave style, and contacts probably are what did it- but she said that ball chasing is the leading cause- when the dog stops and turns- often on the wrong lead it can cause issues similar to this. Interesting eh?

So in a few weeks she should be cleared for agility again. I am allowed to slowly start increasing her activity now but know agility yet. I have an appointment again in two weeks just to be sure everything is good to go.


Okay, so here are the issues in physio speak :o)

Right Front
teres major
supraspinatus
biceps
put these all together and you have
tendonopathies (tedonitis)

Left Front
teres major

Neck
C6 & C7 Bilateral

And this is what I have to do 2 times a day to make it better:

Rt & Lt- teres major
up to ear with a slight outturn on elbow 20-30 seconds

Rt Biceps
elbow straight, foot down toward knee

Neck Traction
3 sets of 10 reps.

8 comments:

Diana said...

Glad you found out what the problem was. I hope Wicca feels better soon. Diana

Sarah said...

i didn't know you did alot of ball chasing with her - i just thought she was crazy, that's all!!? i remember you had the same thing with kate when she would go after a ball like a lunatic!!! I worry about that with my guys too.

i guess its different when you have a dog built so much in its front like and she is, and she knows how to use it and abuse it, maybe we could pad the weave poles and the upside of the a-frame for her?? :) oh wicca.

those exercises are similar to what i do with K, but yours are in the front, not the back!!! you'll notice a difference, i sure have.

glad she is on he road to recovery!!!!!

Jules said...

oh wow. I hope Ms. Wicca mends quickly.

Anonymous said...

All that matters is that she is okay. I am happy that things turned out well!!!

onecollie said...

we should form a doggy exercise club!! ....I have 3 different exercises that I have to do 2-3x's a day for Tate....I don't even do this stuff for myself!

Dawn said...

Poor Wicca. Hopefully some PT and rest and she will be good as new quickly.

Brittany said...

Poor Wicca! Hopefully she feels better soon. At least now you know exactly what is hurting, and that it isn't too terribly serious.

Blazingstar said...

I'm glad you have a diagnosis and that it's something you can deal with! We are finding that as our dogs get older we have to be more careful about stuff like ball-chasing. Both Tally and Huxley sometimes limp in the front after people have been throwing stuff for them(usually visitors that have more stamina than us!), so we have cut down on that a lot.