whip and hip muscle

Hi John,

Sorry mate but it's totally impossible to provide advice in this regard without being able to carefully examine the dog.

In far too many instances so called needling simply does not work due to the severity of the injury, or the wrong product having been used, or the wrong quantities, or just the wrong teqniques having been used.
To repair a torn or split muscle correctly with the best possible chance of it healing in such a way as to enhance the chances of the greyhound being able to race again without major loss of ability, requires an experienced veterinarian to surgically repair the damage.
Unfortunately this becomes difficult if not impossible after a torn muscle has been "needled" as this in most instances creates excessive scar tissue.

At this point in time the injury does need to be examined by an experienced veterinarian to see if anything can be done to get the greyhound back on the track and racing again.

Cheers,
Tom

Hi John,

In most instances injuries are injected with minute quantities of a sclerosing agent at the injury site to stimulate faster healing by stimulating the production of scar tissue in the appropriate locations, and that is why I replied the way I did.

Injecting with Dexamethasone creates a completely different situation.

Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid, or in other words cortisone.

The main function of a cortisone being the reduction of inflammation, and generally cortisone may be used in a muscle injury to get rid of any inflammation caused by the injury and to reduce the formation of scar tissue, and this is generally done very early on when the injury first occurs.

When an injury of any description occurs the body's first reaction is to create inflammation, as inflammation is the body's primary method by which healing is stimulated. This occurs by the increase of fluid and swelling in the area and the release of substances that create scar tissue.

The injection of cortisone at the injury site stops this process by basically convincing the body that the injury has healed and at that point in time no further natural healing takes place. The main reason this may be done is to reduce the formation of excessive scar tissue which in some instances could restrict full extension of the limb and reduce the efficient functioning of the muscle tissue.

However if this is done then other methods to stimulate the healing of the injury must be used or else an area of weakness results which will continue to break down.

Methods most used to stimulate healing are Ultrasound therapy and Laser treatments as these stimulate healing in most instances without creating excessive scar tissue, or in minor injuries a heat producing liniment to trigger low level inflammation at the location of the injury.

My problem of course is that I have no way of knowing the exact location of the injury or the severity of the injury. In other words was the injury at the areas where the muscle is attached, or was it in the body of the muscle, or both?

In most instances the exact site of the injury would require a different treatment.
For instance damage at the muscle origin may be best treated by the careful injection of a sclerosing agent to create scar tissue and strengthen the area, while the body of the muscle would be best treated with Ultrasound or Laser, or even firm massage with a heat producing liniment and stretching physio therapy.

In this case the only thing I can suggest as there is obviously no injury treatment equipment available, is to massage the area twice daily with a warmth producing liniment such as iodised oil for four days on and three days off for four weeks, including limb stretches, and then commence swimming to improve muscle function after the first two weeks of treatment.

Then after this time a couple of free runs to test the soundness of the injury before running behind the lure is recommenced.

Cheers
Tom

hi tom I have a 16 month old pup who has a slight tear in the middle of the hip muscle what is the best way to treat the hip injury without needling the muscle how long for and what can I do to keep the dog fit while treating the injury I have a laser and a magnetic mat that I can use to treat the injury also what would be best to do to the dog to try minimise injuries like this