Dark Red Spot On Paw Pad

[Guest LazyBlaze]

Although her limping as stopped her skin/muscles around her shoulder and face still twitch when I touch the shoulder. I'd like to try the massaging you suggested LazyBlaze but have no idea how to do it. Could you give me an idea of how you would do this on a dog please?

 

Well, I'm no expert, but for Blaze we do as his pain specialist and physio advised, so I'll just try to pass on my layman's understanding of it as best I can:

 

Keep your hands flat (large surface area, don't use individual fingers, just your palms with fingers kept flat) and place the palms of your hands gently but firmly on either side of Luna's neck. Move your hands in small but firm circles, and as you do this make sure that you aren't just moving your hand over the surface of her skin (like patting or stroking her) but that you are actually moving the skin and muscle underneath it with your hands. This is the main thing for it to be of benefit, that the skin and muscle moves with your hand. You need firm pressure for this to happen, but you're not being vigorous or sudden in the movement, just gentle, taking her skin and muscle with your hand as it moves. With Blaze I do around 20 circles (both hands at the same time) before moving down to the next part of the neck and doing the same again, all the way down his spine to his hips. Start at the neck just below the ears and move backwards after each set of circles. See how Luna responds basically. Once she gets used to the 'newness' of it, she might lean into your hands, or happy-groan, which would be a good sign that it feels good to her. Just make sure she is comfortable. Once we've done the circles with both hands all the way down Blaze's back, I also go down each side of his spine (starting and ending at the same points as before) in a slightly different way. I form a cup, or semicircle, with one hand, and place my palm on one side of his spine and my five fingers on the other (with the cupped part of my hand over his vertebrae). Then, a little more vigorously than before, but still just gentle and firm, I rub up and down maybe 20 times (again keeping his skin and muscles underneath with my hand, so only moving an inch or two either way). Again I repeat this all the way down his back to his hips, and then I switch sides and start again at the neck (so that both sides of the spine have had the palm as well as the five fingers - I hope this makes sense! Just let me know if there's anything I can better explain).

 

I don't really do anything more specific than that, or anything deep with my fingers (I leave that to the experts), but we do this for Blaze before every walk and it helps keep his muscles loose. He had sore muscles, trigger points and nerve pain from an old injury, so we just do various things to keep him comfortable. Heat (needs to be very gentle heat) and massage really help. You can feel the muscles loosening as you work them. We also sometimes rub in a liniment (we use Absorbine gel) after walks, as it helps the muscles. I use it on myself as well! It's for horses, but works great for dogs' muscles too. Don't use any human rubs as they might be too strong for a greyhound's skin.

 

I am sure there will be others on this board who will have MUCH better knowledge and advice for you about massage than me though. There are also plenty of books you can get on canine massage; I have one by Michael Fox that is quite helpful, but to be honest I just do what I've described above now and it seems to be enough.

 

From what you've said about Luna yelping when she turned to bite/scratch her back leg, she may have tweaked a muscle or nerve in her neck. All of this might be related to her limping, so just keep an eye on it all. On the other hand it could be the case that the glass in her paw caused her limp and also caused her to adjust her weight bearing, which in turn has tensed her neck/shoulder muscles. Often these things are connected.

 

As I say though, I'm not an expert, just sharing the things that have helped with Blaze. Hope they can help Luna too! Blaze had an old nerve injury in his neck where it joins the thoracic spine, then a broken leg and rehab from that since living with us, so we've had a bit of a crash course in neck/shoulder/back pain management! Seeing a chiropractor has been the thing that has helped him the most (so if Luna's soreness persists over time I would seriously consider giving that a go), but Blaze's physio, regular massage and also acupuncture have all helped a lot too. Hopefully Luna's soreness is just a temporary tweak that will disappear quickly. but keep an eye on her for any further yelps or excessive muscle twitching, which might be a sign of an underlying injury (and possibly the reason she was retired).

 

I'm glad that you got the glass out of her paw. Bless her.

 

[TheRiverClyde]

Thank you SO much LazyBlaze for explaining the massage technique in such detail, that was really helpful and hopefully it will be beneficial to Luna as well. I feel so bad for her when I forget and accidently clap that side and her skins recoils and and her wee lip pulls back. She doesn't yelp or make a noise but I assume it must be uncomfortable for her.

 

So hopefully we can get rid of the problem whatever it is.

 

Thanks again, I'll let you know how we get on

[greysmom]

Epsom salt = magnesium sulfate

 

They call it something different in the UK, I think.

[Guest LazyBlaze]

Thank you SO much LazyBlaze for explaining the massage technique in such detail, that was really helpful and hopefully it will be beneficial to Luna as well. I feel so bad for her when I forget and accidently clap that side and her skins recoils and and her wee lip pulls back. She doesn't yelp or make a noise but I assume it must be uncomfortable for her.

 

So hopefully we can get rid of the problem whatever it is.

 

Thanks again, I'll let you know how we get on

 

You're very welcome, and best of luck. If Luna is so sensitive to touch that her trigger point jumps even with being patted she might not tolerate massage at all, so just start very very gently and do a tiny bit at a time, if and as she tolerates it. Any signs of discomfort just stop. With massage there's a lot of trust going on, and you want her to gain confidence that what you're doing is helping her. Little sore bits will get more acceptable to her the more she trusts you. At first she will likely be wary. Gentle heat initially will warm the muscles a bit and may make massage more comfortable. As the muscles begin to loosen you will be able to do more. Even applying heat only for a few days, so that she gets used to you paying attention to the area might be helpful.

[TheRiverClyde]

 

You're very welcome, and best of luck. If Luna is so sensitive to touch that her trigger point jumps even with being patted she might not tolerate massage at all, so just start very very gently and do a tiny bit at a time, if and as she tolerates it. Any signs of discomfort just stop. With massage there's a lot of trust going on, and you want her to gain confidence that what you're doing is helping her. Little sore bits will get more acceptable to her the more she trusts you. At first she will likely be wary. Gentle heat initially will warm the muscles a bit and may make massage more comfortable. As the muscles begin to loosen you will be able to do more. Even applying heat only for a few days, so that she gets used to you paying attention to the area might be helpful.

Good tips, thank you. I'll definitely make sure not to carry on if she shows signs of pain or discomfort. I'll try the heat before the message too. Thanks!

[DocsDoctor]

Epsom salt = magnesium sulfate

 

They call it something different in the UK, I think.

They are called Epsom salts here too . They actually originated in the town of Epsom in Surrey - also the home of the Derby: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsom