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Post by Sophie on Jun 14, 2014 20:08:52 GMT 10
I have a maiden dog with a heap of ability. He tore his stomach muscle on the offside 5 mths ago. He had 12 wks off and then gradually been worked back into some fitness and has been going terrific. It now appears he has torn the other side of the stomach muscle. I had never had a dog with a torn stomach muscle before, let alone doing it twice. Is this a very unusual occurrence and do you think it is something that could happen yet again since he seems to have some type of weakness in the area.
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Post by Tom Meulman on Jun 15, 2014 19:21:51 GMT 10
Hi Sophie,
Yes in my experience torn stomach muscles are an unusual injury as compared to other types of muscle injuries, and for a greyhound to damage both is certainly a rare occurrence
This type of injury used to be more prevalent when greyhounds raced on a grass surfaces, particularly when it was wet, instead of the loam or sand based surfaces that are most common now, and mainly occurred due to the greyhound loosing traction on the hind limbs and thereby overstretching the stomach muscles.
It would be extremely rare for a greyhound to have a weakness in the stomach muscles specifically, and I doubt that having damaged them both and the resultant increase in strength in that area due to the healing process laying down some scar tissue in the muscle fibres that they are likely to tear again.
I would however look at the possibility that the area used for free running or trailing in order to get the greyhound fit enough to start back on the race track may be contributing to injury problems in this muscle group, particularly if there is a grass straight track involved, or extremely soft sand in front of a starting box where the greyhound takes off.
Keep in mind that the galloping mishap that creates this type of injury can also contribute to damage in the back muscles (gracilis) and hamstrings (semitendinosus).
Cheers,
Tom
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Post by Sophie on Jun 15, 2014 22:08:21 GMT 10
Thanks so much for your detailed reply Tom, it is much appreciated
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