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Bruise
Mar 16, 2017 20:38:11 GMT 10
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Post by John on Mar 16, 2017 20:38:11 GMT 10
Hi Tom Two days after racing my dog has a small bruise at the top of his back leg just above his groin and some slight bruising of his testicle when I rub the bruised muscle it has a gritty feel he has no swelling pain or lameness. any ideas? Cheers john
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Bruise
Mar 17, 2017 6:11:06 GMT 10
Post by Tom Meulman on Mar 17, 2017 6:11:06 GMT 10
Hi John,
The most common reason for this to occur is a small tear or split in the muscle tissue, and the most likely muscle to be involved in that area is the Gracilis.
This muscle is under considerable strain when racing and often sustains low level undiagnosed damage to the body of the muscle that over time when left untreated results in scar tissue in the surface of the muscle as well as a hard tight area in the body of the muscle. This certainly does make the muscle tissue feel gritty due to individual or small groups of muscle fibres damaging and developing small areas of scar tissue along the length of the muscle fibre.
This has the effect of reducing the elasticity of the muscle to the extent that both the origin of the muscle at its upper attachment point, as well as the lower insertion of the muscle and the adjacent attachment of the muscle to the hamstring comes under considerable strain.
The danger here of course is that when the elasticity of the muscle becomes severely reduced it can cause it to tear away at the origin resulting in what is commonly described as a "dropped back muscle", or split away from its attachment to the hamstring, damaging the hamstring in the process.
Unfortunately this type of injury can and does more often than not spell the end of a greyhounds racing career.
So any bruising even without pain in the area at the top of the Gracilis or at the lower end along the hamstring is a warning that the integrity of the muscle has become compromised and requires urgent treatment and follow up physiotherapy to avoid any serious injury developing as a result of further running exercise.
The initial treatment should be aimed at healing any current injury and reducing existing scar tissue by gently massaging something like Hirudoid cream into any bruising and any areas that feel hard or knotty in the muscle tissue twice daily for three days, resting the area for 24 hours, and then repeating that treatment for two weeks.
After that the body of the muscle including the hamstring is best massaged with a warmth producing massage liniment such as iodized oil on a daily basis with stretching physiology therapy by lifting the rear foot towards the tip of the shoulder blade at least five times after each massage session for one week before the greyhound is allowed any running behind a lure.
The liniment massage and hamstring/back muscle stretches should then be done for two days after each race or hard run to try and avoid further injury to that muscle group.
Cheers, Tom
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Bruise
Mar 17, 2017 8:43:30 GMT 10
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Post by John on Mar 17, 2017 8:43:30 GMT 10
Thanks for your help Tom Great site
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