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Wrist
Nov 14, 2020 9:36:03 GMT 10
via mobile
Post by DJ on Nov 14, 2020 9:36:03 GMT 10
Hi Tom Have a race dog here that was never injured but lifted his leg at end of gallop 2 months ago So I treated wrist etc and let him out in field and after run he lifted same leg again-- so treated him again and after 10 days or so wrist Seems fine when pressure applied so let him off in field again and again leg up
For a while I thought pain might be coming from higher up-referral- After more treatment and rest a good vet said wrist is perfect
Galloped again today and when I apply pressure it seems v sore and he is 5 lengths off
Any ideas as I am about to give up
Cheers Tom
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Wrist
Nov 15, 2020 4:45:38 GMT 10
Post by Tom Meulman on Nov 15, 2020 4:45:38 GMT 10
Hi DJ,
Taking into account that the wrist has been declared sound after having been examined by a competent Vet, and that referred pain from around the top of the shoulders or the neck is very unlikely to take five lengths off the dog, I would be having a very careful look at the toe sesamoids.
While it may seem wrong to look at toe problems to account for pain in the wrist joint, keep in mind that a painful outside toe will force the dog to rotate the wrist slightly during running to take pressure off the painful toe joint, and this in turn will create intermittent pain in the wrist joint ligaments after a run.
In particular check the sesamoids of the two outside toes, and because toe sesamoids are so small and hidden behind the flexor tendon a broken or fractured sesamoid can be difficult to detect but will certainly take lengths off the dog.
Check for a slight enlargement and pain on flexing the toe, and if a suspected fracture is detected in a toe joint an X-ray may be best to determine the extent of the damage and the best course of action to remedy the problem.
Cheers, Tom
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Wrist
Nov 15, 2020 8:35:08 GMT 10
via mobile
Post by DJ on Nov 15, 2020 8:35:08 GMT 10
Thanks very much Tom I will look into same
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Wrist
Nov 17, 2020 9:33:11 GMT 10
Post by Tom Meulman on Nov 17, 2020 9:33:11 GMT 10
Hi DJ,
Just in addition to the above, there are a few other problems associated with the wrist that can certainly take lengths off a dog, and are easy to miss by both those that check greyhounds for racing injuries and veterinarians alike.
Firstly, muscle spasms in the base of the neck/upper saddle area can often create a considerable amount of pain when the wrist is bent over closed and squeezed firmly. This certainly creates the definite impression that the wrist joint itself is sore, and treating the wrist joint or doing very little other than a week or more rest will see that pain disappear.
It is then assumed that the wrist has been fixed and the greyhound is galloped again only to have the problem reappear. However this type of muscle spasm and pain certainly do not take lengths of a greyhounds performance.
It should be established right now that the most common reason for muscle spasm in the area that causes wrist pain on firm flexion is running severely unbalanced due to severe pain in one front leg, and in most instances this severe pain is caused not by muscle or ligament damage but by bone damage.
The most common areas where this bone damage occurs and are often missed during an examination is the very base of the Radius where it joins the wrist and presses on the Scapho Lunar bone, and this can even involve a small bone chip.
The other bone damage often missed is in the base of the Ulna about 25 to 30 mm up from the end of the bone above the wrist.
The third area is at the top of the Radius in an area called the Tuberosity of the Radius which consists of some very fine hairline fractures that can certainly cause a lot of pain.
There is one more area of bone injury that while it does occur is not all that common, and that is a hairline fracture about one third up on the Radius, and this fracture is caused by excessive rotation in the same manner as the hairline fractures that commonly occur in the Fibula of the hind leg.
So as you can see a whole chain of events can occur that start of with a rotationally caused hairline fracture somewhere in a bone of the front limb, and finish up with severe pain upon flexion of a wrist joint, and while it often gets the blame, it is in fact not the cause of any poor performances.
Cheers, Tom
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