Acupuncture Vs Chiro

[Guest sugarmom]

My senior hound is in need of help beyond what my regular vet can offer. Sugar, who had surgery a year and a half ago for a slipped disc in her neck, is now experiencing pain again. As she is now 9 (will be 10 in March), I'm not sure I'd be willing to put her through another surgery. Although I'm glad we did the original surgery, the recovery was long and she is now almost 2 years older. Pain began about 5 weeks ago and we have tried steroids in conjunction with several combos of pain meds in hopes that the pain will subside. We think that she is now primarily painful in he back in the area where her last rib joins her spine. However, about a week ago, she began exhibiting signs of neck pain. She has been checked for TBD both before the original surgery and recently, all neg. She is now on dexamethazone as well as dimerol for pain. Before we went to the dimerol, we tried a combo of tramadol and gabapentin which didn't help much. The dimerol is fairly effective, but it leaves her very fuzzy not to mention the fact that I feel like her pusher . I have an appt today for acupuncture (tried that before the original surgery and it helped some- but the effects only lasted a few days) I am wondering if a chiro might be more help and am considering also making an appt with a chiro for his/her opinion. Any experience with chiro vs. acupuncture and which has worked better for back/neck pain. Thanks in advance for sharing your wisdom and experience.

[LadyBailey]

We haven't done acup. with any of our dogs but have done chiro with great success... however, I strongly recommend going to a true chiro that also does dogs - not a vet that is certified - because the vet that we had doing adjusts on our dog was totally wrong and didn't even adjust the right spot. so we decided to take carrier to another chiro - and after one appointment, he walked out without any pain. where are you located?

[Burpdog]

Actually a combination works best as the acupuncture holds the adjustment.

 

Do you have a vet that can come to the house? If you email me, I'll try & find someone close to you Burpdog@msn.com

 

btw -- my chiropractic vet and acupuncture vets work on a lot of dogs that have had surgery and it didn't hold or work well.

Edited October 23, 2007 by Burpdog

[Guest crazy4greys]

Actually a combination works best as the acupuncture holds the adjustment.

 

I agree. That's what I did with Autumn.

[Guest sugarmom]

Thanks you guys. I knew you would have good advise. We just got back from acupuncture and I think/hope she seems more relaxed. I've also got a couple of Chiro alternatives and will see who can see her sooner. Thanks again. The collective wisdom here is wonderful!!

[RobinM]

Sugarmom- please explain exactly what symtoms your girl had BEFORE the 1st sugery that you knew she needed the surgery. What was the diagnosis? Surgery? Recoup time? what did that consist of?

 

My Polli has been limping for 3+ weeks. 2 sets of x-rays clear, TBD, clear. All pictures sent to Cornell University, clear.

 

Right now, her gait is off, but she had been limping severely.

[Guest sugarmom]

Sugarmom- please explain exactly what symtoms your girl had BEFORE the 1st sugery that you knew she needed the surgery. What was the diagnosis? Surgery? Recoup time? what did that consist of?

 

My Polli has been limping for 3+ weeks. 2 sets of x-rays clear, TBD, clear. All pictures sent to Cornell University, clear.

 

Right now, her gait is off, but she had been limping severely.

Sugar had struggled with neck pain since we adopted her in 2001. Main symptom was yelping and limping on her right foreleg. Yelps were heartbreaking for me as you can imagine. Like Polli, xrays were clear. We controlled flareups with pain meds - a gabapentin/tramadol combo worked best - in combo with acupuncture. About two years ago she had a flare up that we were unable to control, so my vet referred me to the vet school at Auburn in Alabama where an MRI showed herniated discs at the junction of her cervical and thoracic spine. Sugar had another health problem that made me very hesitant to move forward with surgery, but in the end, I felt my choice was surgery or euthanasia. The surgery gave her about a year and a half totally pain free until the current flare up. She did very well in surgery and was standing the next day. This was very positive as they had warned me that she might not be able to walk at least for a while post surgery. We set up an xpen in the family room as her hospital bed for recovery. I believe that she stay in it with leash walks for potty only for 8 weeks. It was a good 6 months post surgery before she was 100%, but she clearly felt better than pre surgery almost immediately.

 

If I had it to do over again, I would have opted for surgery sooner than I did, but we were very fortunate to have had no complications.

 

Acupuncture yesterday seems to have helped her a lot. She hasn't yelped since and seems much more relaxed. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

I'm sending good vibes and white light in Polli's direction.

[RobinM]

Humm. Disk prolapse was presented to me as an option, but without the MRI- it can't be diagnosed.

She is not limping on carpet or grass but after a few minutes on concrete, she will start to limp mildly.

3 weeks ago, she looked like IGOR in Young frankenstein to give you an idea.

No yelping.

 

In fact, daily bouts of real time play, tush up, etc. We have a hard time keeping her from jumping on and off our 32inch high bed. When we are in the room, we lift her on and off. When we don't get to her fast enough, she does it herself with no evidence of pain.

 

She also come barelleling down the stairs and if she had rubber on her feet, she would be burning rubber!!! That does not strike me as a dog in pain.

 

When Beau hurt his leg back in May, Believe me, he leg me know what pain was.

 

So... I think we will sit and wait a bit longer since she appears to be pain free.

 

Thanks for the info.

[Guest Ilse]

First we wish Sugar all the best .

 

Fini had acupuncture and chiropractic and we had with both a good effect. Friend of mine is very pleased with osteopathie . It depends on what the problem is.

[Guest sugarmom]

Humm. Disk prolapse was presented to me as an option, but without the MRI- it can't be diagnosed.

She is not limping on carpet or grass but after a few minutes on concrete, she will start to limp mildly.

3 weeks ago, she looked like IGOR in Young frankenstein to give you an idea.

No yelping.

 

In fact, daily bouts of real time play, tush up, etc. We have a hard time keeping her from jumping on and off our 32inch high bed. When we are in the room, we lift her on and off. When we don't get to her fast enough, she does it herself with no evidence of pain.

 

She also come barelleling down the stairs and if she had rubber on her feet, she would be burning rubber!!! That does not strike me as a dog in pain.

 

When Beau hurt his leg back in May, Believe me, he leg me know what pain was.

 

So... I think we will sit and wait a bit longer since she appears to be pain free.

 

Thanks for the info.

Good luck - No that does not sound like a dog in terrible pain. Something must hurt or she wouldn't limp, but I think you have to consider how much pain vs the risks associated with surgery. Spinal surgery does have real risk. Sugar was clearly in major league pain when we opted for surgery. She did however limp from time to time and hold up her right front foot between the acute attacks she suffered from the time we got her. We suspected a disc, but didn't go the MRI route until we concluded that if it was a disc and she was a candidate for surgery, we were ready for surgery. I'm sure you'll keep the list updated with Polli's progress. I almost never post, but read daily.

[RobinM]

Humm. Disk prolapse was presented to me as an option, but without the MRI- it can't be diagnosed.

She is not limping on carpet or grass but after a few minutes on concrete, she will start to limp mildly.

3 weeks ago, she looked like IGOR in Young frankenstein to give you an idea.

No yelping.

 

In fact, daily bouts of real time play, tush up, etc. We have a hard time keeping her from jumping on and off our 32inch high bed. When we are in the room, we lift her on and off. When we don't get to her fast enough, she does it herself with no evidence of pain.

 

She also come barelleling down the stairs and if she had rubber on her feet, she would be burning rubber!!! That does not strike me as a dog in pain.

 

When Beau hurt his leg back in May, Believe me, he leg me know what pain was.

 

So... I think we will sit and wait a bit longer since she appears to be pain free.

 

Thanks for the info.

Good luck - No that does not sound like a dog in terrible pain. Something must hurt or she wouldn't limp, but I think you have to consider how much pain vs the risks associated with surgery. Spinal surgery does have real risk. Sugar was clearly in major league pain when we opted for surgery. She did however limp from time to time and hold up her right front foot between the acute attacks she suffered from the time we got her. We suspected a disc, but didn't go the MRI route until we concluded that if it was a disc and she was a candidate for surgery, we were ready for surgery. I'm sure you'll keep the list updated with Polli's progress. I almost never post, but read daily.

 

Yes, I will. Thanks again.

Robin

[Guest LolasMom]

The older my two pups (12-15) where, the more frequently and consistently they required acupuncture. Occasionally they'd get a chiro adjustment but acupuncture seemed to help the most with both of them. It really did the trick to support their mobility and quality of life. Each of them had neck and back issues.

Edited October 25, 2007 by LolasMom