|
Baffled
Oct 20, 2014 5:54:38 GMT 10
via mobile
Post by Tomjs on Oct 20, 2014 5:54:38 GMT 10
Hi john just a quick message im aeriouy stuck here My dogs race once a week and the day after I take them to my muscle man and he always marks off soreness and areas to treat with ultrasound and what not now I have a couple of problems here He says I should ultrasound then all the way up to the day before witch I think could possible too much? What is your opinion
Another thing is I asked it if it would be ok if I galloped them mid week to keep on top of them, well he hit the roof he said never let them off the lead and keep them fastens down untill race day he said galloping them takes away the whole point of ultrasounding in the first place he said if I was to ultrasound for 3 days then gallop the dogs in the middle of the week the 3 days of ultrasounding been done prior to the gallop was time well wasted as the dogs niggles would be just as bad if not worse? What do you think I am not a fan of walking the dogs I feel it serves little purpose and wears our the shoes , can you find me a happy medium please Tom
Thanks buddy
TOMJS
|
|
|
Baffled
Oct 20, 2014 16:41:34 GMT 10
Post by Tom Meulman on Oct 20, 2014 16:41:34 GMT 10
Hi Tomjs,
Firstly ultrasound treatments; the situation there is that if an injury requires 4 treatments once daily with an ultrasound, then they should have 2 days without ultrasound treatments before racing in order for the tissue to settle down.
In other words, around half of the time in days that it takes to treat an injury with ultrasound treatments they should have off before racing to be able to perform up to their best.
Let me explain why; the one thing that ultrasound is very good at and that is removing muscle spasms out of muscle tissue, in other words relaxing tight muscle areas that somehow have been overworked. However because that is a primary function of ultrasound, then when you treat an injured muscle it also removes muscle tone, again in other words, it reduces the fitness of the muscle.
In fact you can treat a perfectly sound muscle with ultrasound for 4 days, run the greyhound behind the lure the next day, and nine times out of ten that sound muscle that has been treated with an ultrasound will now be sore after the run.
That's why whenever an injury is severe enough to require ultrasound treatment my recommendation is when the ultrasound treatments have been completed to then treat that muscle with a muscle contractor or TENS machine so that it gets a chance to catch up with the rest of the body fitness wise.
That brings me to the next item, are the injuries really so severe that they require multiple ultrasound treatments? Or are we simply talking about slight muscle strain that just requires a good massage with some iodized oil for a couple of days?
Only you are in a position to answer those questions.
You are going to have to take a lot more notice of how your greyhounds are reacting when these so called injuries are found.
As far as I'm concerned, if there is no swelling, fluid or bruising indicating muscle damage, or a muscle that has gone into a tight spasm, ultrasound treatments certainly are not required, and could actually be detrimental under some circumstances.
The other item I should mention is that if the greyhounds react severely and/or cry out in pain when certain muscle areas are checked, there is a pretty fair chance that the areas found sore are in fact a referred pain zone and actually not injured at all.
Yes if a greyhound only races every seven days in most instances it does require some sort of a hitout behind the lure, or at least a solid couple of hand slips over a suitable distance to maintain fitness. In most instances unless the injury is really severe having an easy stretch out is in fact beneficial for the injury.
My advice is to avoid using the ultrasound unless it is really required to treat actual damaged muscle fibers, and to treat basic muscle soreness by massaging with a warmth producing linament such as iodized oil once or twice daily. To gallop the dogs if you believe they need it at least three clear day before racing, and after that hitout to just give any remaining sore areas a couple of light massages.
Cheers, Tom
|
|