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Post by janet russell on Apr 1, 2014 15:42:15 GMT 10
hi tom, could you give me some advise please, i have a pup who has a sprained wrist he was bumped on bend in a race the swelling is at the front of his left wrist, he was exrayed no fractures but the vet drew 20ml of watery blood from his wrist he said it was sprained, whrer will the blood have come from and what treatment would be best vet says just bed rest
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Post by Tom Meulman on Apr 1, 2014 19:47:36 GMT 10
Hi Janet,
Sprained as a description of an injury certainly makes it sound like a minimal problem.
Unfortunately sprained in this case also included a fair amount of internal bleeding, and while ruling out bone fractures, this could only have come from damaged soft tissue, and the most likely soft tissue that may have sustained sufficient damage to cause that amount of bleeding at the wrist joint are the ligaments of the wrist.
There is also a possibility that some of the bleeding and fluid that caused the swelling at the wrist may have come from muscle damage on the forearm in the area of the radial muscle higher up above the wrist, and any fluid seeping from there would have pooled at the wrist joint.
So there are in my honest opinion two areas that may need some follow up treatment.
One is the ligaments of the wrist, and if they have sustained the damage I suspect they will certainly require strengthening. While the muscles of forearm will require massaging to allow healing of the muscle tissue without it unduly tightening up.
First of all both areas need to be allowed to settle down for a week to ten days, and then the forearm muscles massaged firmly once a day for five days with a massaging liniment, my own preference is for iodised oil.
While the wrist joint should be painted daily right around the wrist, including both sides and just below the stopper bone, with a heat producing liniment such as Bone Radiol or similar for five days.
Then a further ten days rest with walking only or just confined to a small yard, before the dog is allowed to gallop again.
The above is the minimum treatment I would recommend, and that is assuming that there are no torn ligaments anywhere in the wrist joint, and that the Vet is correct and there are no bone fractures to worry about.
Cheers,
Tom
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Post by janet russell on Apr 2, 2014 3:46:43 GMT 10
thanks for your help wish you were in england, in your experience do they normally come back he seems a lot sounder today race was sunday its hard to know were the bleeding is i checked his forarm he shows no pain
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Post by Tom Meulman on Apr 2, 2014 21:10:46 GMT 10
Hi Janet,
Just give it time to settle down and do the treatment, and I’m sure he will be fine.
For the first couple of runs back on the track try and slip him right on the first turn rather than out of the traps to reduce the initial pressure on the wrist.
However, if after the first run back there is any soreness or swelling in the wrist it will be necessary to repeat the treatment again, including more time off.
Cheers,
Tom
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Post by john on Apr 30, 2014 11:50:40 GMT 10
hi tom, i have a bitch, that was spiked, in the wrist, months ago, has been on and off with this injury, being treated with halo and cortisone,will still trial fast even though she lifts her paw up, most times after the run,and it swells up after the run, im told by two major vets, to push her through it, what are your thoughts on this..
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Post by Tom Meulman on May 1, 2014 20:45:12 GMT 10
Hi John,
While you haven't mentioned exactly where the wrist was spiked the fact that it swells up after a run and is still causing pain makes me believe that the injury caused during the spiking incident has not healed.
Keep in mind that cortisone won't in anyway heal an injury, all that occurs is that the pain and inflammation of the injury is reduced.
Continuing to run the girl is not going to do anything beneficial, and if anything running with severe discomfort will in the long term stop most greyhounds from chasing hard and create bad habits by changing their normal line around a track in an attempt to reduce the pain.
Have the wrist carefully examined to determine exactly what and where the damage is, and target the appropriate treatment for the injury found.
There is every chance that while the spiking caused a soft tissue injury and swelling, and that this has healed, but at the same time caused some sort of ligament, tendon, or possibly even bone damage in an other part of the wrist that is still causing problems.
The most common areas of concern are the accessory carpal ligaments, and/or bone damage in the area just below where the radius connects to the front of the wrist.
Cheers,
Tom
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Post by john on May 2, 2014 14:52:31 GMT 10
thanks tom, i will ask for it to be xrayed,i didnt think it would be ok, if she holds it up after a run, thanks for your input.
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Post by janet russell on Jun 23, 2014 23:20:58 GMT 10
thanks tom, i will ask for it to be xrayed,i didnt think it would be ok, if she holds it up after a run, thanks for your input. hi tom, just an update on the pup i asked you about, kept himon the lead 12 weeks let himoff on gallop he half cantered but you could tell he was lame, sent him to ireland he was rexrayed and there was a chip that was missed by the original vet it has attached its self back on the wrist vet says its 50/50 if he run again is there any thing i can do to help him |
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Post by Tom Meulman on Jun 24, 2014 7:16:52 GMT 10
Hi Janet,
I am sorry to hear that, it's certainly very frustrating when those that you rely on to diagnose the injuries and illnesses of your valuable and loved greyhounds get it wrong.
In providing advice my problem of course is the fact that I can't personally examine the greyhound, and that in many instances makes any advice I may provide a stab in the dark.
Again as in the original situation you can do little else but be guided by your Vet in regard to any follow up treatment.
P.S. Did you check with your Vet if the bone chip in it's current location is causing pain or hampering full recovery, and if this is the case is it still possible to remove or modify that chip where it has adhered to the bone?
Cheers,
Tom
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Post by john on Jul 2, 2014 14:56:15 GMT 10
hi tom, just letting you know, i had that bitch xrayed, no bone damage there was swelling in tendon vet said to rest,and to keep using ultrasonic machine in water, going to give her 3 mths off,is there nothing else that will help tendon injurys?. thanks.
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Post by Tom Meulman on Jul 4, 2014 7:14:22 GMT 10
Hi John,
It certainly is very frustrating when you are told that the greyhound can't race for 3 months.
Keep in mind that for a tendon to be swollen that there has to be damage in the tendon itself.
Now a tendon consist primarily of a bunch of fibres much like a bunch of very fine cords, and that these need to be able to slide past each other independently.
This allows the tendon to take up the strain even when this strain is at a slight angle to the line of the tendon, as then some fibres stretch a fraction more than the fibres adjacent to them.
Problems occur when damage in individual fibres cause them to adhere to the surrounding fibres causing a harder or knotty area that is no longer capable of functioning as required, this then causes pain during, and often swelling after each run.
While your Vet is right in saying that this requires ultrasound treatment to stimulate healing, IMHO it requires a little bit more in addition to that treatment.
In addition to ultrasound under water, I believe it is essential that any harder areas in the tendon be encouraged to soften and to break up any adhesions in the tendon fibres, that the area is massaged for 2 minutes daily for 14 days with an anti-inflammatory cream, and that the tendon is placed under some stress by exerting flexion on the wrist ten times after each massage session.
At the end of the first 14 days of treatment allow 14 days of complete rest other than daily walks, and at the end of that time start another 14 day session of treatments with the ultrasound, but then after each ultrasound treatment massage the area daily with iodised oil or a similar heat producing massage liniment, as well as repeating the tendon stretches by flexing the wrist firmly forward at the foot.
The girl should then be ready for some handslips or free running, with the wrist joint and tendon being massaged after each of these sessions with iodised oil.
14 days of free running or a handslip every third day, and she should be ready to have a short run behind a mechanical lure providing no swelling or pain has occurred during the free running/handslip sessions.
Cheers
Tom
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Post by john on Jul 20, 2014 16:50:14 GMT 10
thanks tom..
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Post by Yaya on Jul 12, 2015 8:47:20 GMT 10
Hi Tom,
My puppy was running outside with my older dog after going potty, out of nowhere she fell, yelled, and started limping. It started to swell up the following day, so I iced it and then soaked it in Epsom salt. She won't put her paw down, but has no problem with me touching it. However I noticed that when I tried to bend her wrist, she cried. Other than that she tries to play and doesn't cry when it's touched. I don't know what is wrong. I've researched her symptoms and I keep coming across sprained wrists, but I'm not sure. Her nails are fine, nothing inbetween her paw pads. Could you please help me? Thank you!
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Post by Tom Meulman on Jul 12, 2015 19:18:48 GMT 10
Hi Yaya,
I'm afraid that the damage done by your pup may be a little more severe than just a sprained wrist, and really needs examining and highly likely an X-ray by your Vet.
Swelling in most instances can only occur due to damage to soft tissue and or bone damage and that type of damage in a pup needs the correct treatment procedures for it not to develop into a long term problem.
Cheers,
Tom
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