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Rear Right Broken Hock Rehabilitation


Guest figbykal

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Guest figbykal

I have been reading the entries under this topic and have picked up some greyt hints for rehabilitation. Burl was released from to "run" from his orthodpedic vet mid July. We brought him home shortly thereafter. He actullay chose us. He has been doing the tripod thing on and off and I can't help but get the feeling that his leg is bothering him. I was wondering if anyone here has used topical Traumeel for this type of "pain." I am giving him Glucosamine and chondroiten/msm. I would like to avoid deramaxx etc...if possible.

 

A bit more history...The break was set sometime back in APril, I believe. He has two screws, one of which has come loose. The doctor looked at recent xRAYS and feels that eveything has heeled as well as it can and the screw should not be a problem. The decision was made not to rebreak the leg.

 

I have been rubbing his leg with a homeopathic salve but it is not antiinflmmatory and was wondering about Traumeel. I am teaching him a command for "backing up." and that has forced him to use a 4 legs. It is pretty cool to watch. He is such a chow hound that I bet I can get him to do anything for a treat. :lol

 

Thank you for your thoughts

 

k

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Guest PiagetsMom

Piaget came to us with a broken hock, but her screws and a plate were removed before we brought her home .....it's taken her a year to not favor her leg, and sometimes, she still does. Her trainer and the vet both told me it's more of a mental thing.....I'll hope they're right.

 

 

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Guest tricolorhounds

Both my Savannah and Bonkers had broken hocks.

 

Bonks only required splinting and he came to me after treatment was completed. You would never know his hock was broken.

 

Savannah on the other hand came to me as a foster a month into her treatment. She was casted from Feb 12th until June 30th. Poor little girls leg was so badly shattered and she had to wait several days for treatment that she developed a very bad infection in the bones. She was on antibiotics the entire time. When her cast came off, she had to have a 2nd surgery to remove the wires. Her injuries have not stopped her from playing and running at all. I do find that when we've taken her to weekend gatherings that her leg gets really tired and she will start to limp... a lot has to do with the type of pavement also... She also does a little skip that others find funny... I think it is more habit than pain.

 

Give your boy some time... :colgate

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Ditto much of the above....Mac was a broken hock (right rear) boy too...he favored his leg off and on for about 6-8 months after he arrived at our home and the break was "healed over" when we got him...he'd be just fine, even running, and then favor it ....happened less and less over time...I think it was a memory thing..he'd be playing and then stop and think "Oh wait that's suppose to hurt"..."Oh wait it doesn't"...now he's just fine...hopefully this will happen to your pup too and you'll have... :gh_run2

 

Dogs and small children are the only people I really get along with....MacDaddy

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Guest figbykal

Forgive me if this is double posted...THank you for your responses and I will take it one day at a time. The traumeel seemed to help a little. He was putting more weight on his leg today. I know there will be good and bad days. I have heard fresh factors talked about a lot. Can someone tell me what they are and where I would puchase them?

 

 

k :gh_bow

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Atlas broke his hock about eight months before he came to live with us. His leg looks odd and slightly deformed. It does bother him once in a while, but for the most part, he has no problem. It didn't start that way. When we first brought him home, we had to exercise it and make him use it. He found it somewhat painful. Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM is great to help his leg.

 

Talk to your vet about doing some physical therapy exercises. One that Atlas and I did was to have him stand on the good leg for 10 sec count then switch so you force him to put weight on the bad leg for 10 sec (or as long as he can hold it). Repeat about 5 times. Increase the length of time you hold the legs up and the number of reps. Once Atlas started building muscle on that leg again, the difference was amazing!

Jennifer and Beamish (an unnamed Irish-born Racer) DOB: October 30, 2011

 

Forever and always missing my "Vowels", Icarus, Atlas, Orion, Uber, and Miss Echo, and Mojito.

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Time--it hasn't been very long. Mizzy had an unset broken hock and she lifts it on occassion when standing (especially when it's rainy). Chiropractic treatments have helped a lot. Also Joint Health and Fresh Factors.

 

Our guy came to us just one-month after his broken-hock injury. His break was not set at all, just wrapped and it took him more than 6 months to heal. While at first he would only walk on it, and held it up the rest of the time, he now uses it for everything, though he still stands on three legs like Burpdog's Mizzy (glad to hear we're not the only one)

 

I would want to be sure that that "loose screw" really is not causing problems, but then I would allow the time for those muscles to re-form and strengthen and his body to figure out how it is going to work with a slightly altered back leg.

Amy and Tim in Beverly, MA, with Chase and Always missing Kingsley (Drama King) and Ruby (KB's Bee Bopper).

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I don't wish to alarm you--this is just my dog's experience--he had a TPLO (non greyhound) for his torn ACL. He would NOT use the leg well beyond when he should have been. I kept taking him to the vet over and over, and he just kept telling me "it takes some dogs longer than others."

 

Fast forward to 12 months post surgical when the dog almost DIED of a bone infection from the surgery. He had a festering infection all that time, which is why it wouldn't heal and he wouldn't walk on it.

 

Three months of $250/mo. antibiotics and a second surgery later ($3,000) and he was OK, finally.


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Susan,  Hamish,  Mister Bigglesworth and Nikita Stanislav. Missing Ming, George, and Buck

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Time--it hasn't been very long. Mizzy had an unset broken hock and she lifts it on occassion when standing (especially when it's rainy). Chiropractic treatments have helped a lot. Also Joint Health and Fresh Factors.

 

Our guy came to us just one-month after his broken-hock injury. His break was not set at all, just wrapped and it took him more than 6 months to heal. While at first he would only walk on it, and held it up the rest of the time, he now uses it for everything, though he still stands on three legs like Burpdog's Mizzy (glad to hear we're not the only one)

 

I would want to be sure that that "loose screw" really is not causing problems, but then I would allow the time for those muscles to re-form and strengthen and his body to figure out how it is going to work with a slightly altered back leg.

 

What exactly was the final outcome?

 

Do you have a dog that broke its leg, had surgery, then hardware failure and nothing was done to correct the hardware failure?

 

Or do you have a dog whose injury went untreated for some time, was successfully surgically repaired, and over time one of the screws broke?

 

This can make a difference as to what you're dealing with.

 

Lynn

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Guest figbykal

Again

 

Thank you for the replies. I will check out fresh factors for sure. My gut is telling me his leg is not infected. I think he is un comfortable. I like the epson salts idea too.

 

k :paw

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Guest TishaT

My grey broke a rear hock in March. We cast it right away and it is healed, but she still limps around sometimes. She runs on 3 legs. If she walks slowly then she uses the leg, otherwise it gets in her way and slows her down.

My vet said "Greyhounds like the status quo - you'll have to push her to use it" and we have and will keep work on it, but honestly I think there will always be some limping. He did suggest hydrotherapy but my little girl HATES water so that wouldn't be too useful for us. I have a friend who recommends pet chiropractic care and we may try that.

Edited by TishaT
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We've been working with rehabbing a hock for about a year now (with a 2 month break when she screwed up her OTHER hind leg), and while I'm happy with the progress it feels like it's two steps forward one step back most of the time, and sometimes even five or six steps back and then I sit around and pout!

 

Shoxy's right hock was broken multiple times as a puppy and did not heal correctly (her calcaneous bone healed at the wrong angle). When we got her, the leg had a figure 8 wire remaining from her last surgery and she used it minimally. We ended up taking her to a surgeon who told us that while there are no guarantees, in his experience hardware removal makes the leg less painful and decreases the limp about 80% of the time. We took the chance and had the wire removed (but no rebreaking was involve, just removing) and in our case I'm really happy we made that decision. She started using her leg more almost immediately, with the bandage still on as well as once they removed the bandage. After that she dislocated her other hind leg and had to use her right leg exclusively for a while, which really solidified the "using it" process. I don't think she would have been able to do that if the wire was still in there, as it was clearly hurting her.

 

Right now we're doing water treadmill sessions for a strained achilles tendon on the right hind leg. I would highly recommend water therapy in whatever form you can get it. We've had tremendous success with it, plus she absolutely loves it! I've seen dramatic improvement in leg usage and muscle mass. She still stands mostly on three legs and uses that one as a "kickstand," but everything else is improving.

 

As for topicals, I've tried DMSO, which did wonders, and have just started trying Traumeel. The one thing to look out for is if you try DMSO (added benefit of being much cheaper than Traumeel), don't use any other topical with it! It soaks through the skin and will pull anything else you've smeared on there along with it. Or at least that is my understanding. Otherwise we use MSM and Glucosamine/Chondroitin, with Rimadyl as needed but as minimally as possible on bad days.

 

We're also dealing with the issue that her right hind foot doesn't flex, can't, won't flex hardly at all. Our vet thinks that it may be because the foot was in a cast for so long while she was growing, but I'd be interested to hear if any other broken hock dogs have that issue.

 

Good luck!

 

ETA: This was so long ago I almost forgot about it. Midwest Greyhound Adoption has a great article on broken legs in greyhounds and exercises/rehab techniques. The author, Kari Swanson, is an absolutely wonderful woman who has helped countless broken leg greyhounds and has a wealth of experience. The link to the PDF is on the bottom right of the page linked above.

Edited by Rethy
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The doctor looked at recent xRAYS and feels that eveything has heeled as well as it can and the screw should not be a problem. The decision was made not to rebreak the leg.

 

Which doctor? An orthopedic vet?

 

In rereading this: first, if the screw is loose it probably should come out. Second, there should be no need to rebreak the leg.

Diane & The Senior Gang

Burpdog Biscuits

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Jiffer gave good suggestions regarding physical therapy and the link Rethy posted is also very good. According to Care of the Racing and Retired Greyhound, you should also flex the hock 10-15 times twice a day to help build up strength. Massage is always good, too!


Meredith with Heyokha (HUS Me Teddy) and Crow (Mike Milbury). Missing Turbo (Sendahl Boss), Pancho, JoJo, and "Fat Stacks" Juana, the psycho kitty. Canku wakan kin manipi.

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire

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Guest figbykal

 

Which doctor? An orthopedic vet?

 

In rereading this: first, if the screw is loose it probably should come out. Second, there should be no need to rebreak the leg.

 

Yes, an orthopedic vet, supposed to be one of the best in Illinois. He felt that the screw should not be an issue. but it could be removed in the future if there is an issue. Go figure...

 

I love the suggestions and links you all have sent...Wonderful. I have noticed (I think) that the Traumeel is helping. He will walk more on the leg now. I am keeping a close eye on this. I plan on getting him to a greyhound savvy chiro and acupuncture doc. She is wonderful. I bet she does recommend the aqua therapy. The place where she practices is a rehabilitation site. But I am waiting a little until I can save the $$$ to get him in.

 

k :yinyang

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