Again, it's been a while now, but I'm going to use Zio's blog to jot down notes and observations of Zio's hopeful rehabilitation. Zio is 6.5 years old now and had been running his best times in flyball last year through May. He was consistently running 3.9's ltl, with an occasional 3.8 in the mix. This was about two years after his old vet thought he might have a partial tear of his ACL. He returned to racing in about three months after that diagnosis, with significant rest follow by a gradual return to full exercise and practice.
Last spring, I noticed that he tended to be fairly sore after a Saturday of racing, but was ready to go on Sunday mornings. He had an issue with the nail bed bleeding after activity last June, which combined with other injuries on the team, limited our tournament activity to zero for the last half of the year. At some point during the late summer, I noticed he was really struggling to get up after laying down for any length of time. My thought as this point is that he may have injured himself last year playing frisbee. I let him rest more, which didn't seem to help. I went to the vet suspecting he was showing signs of hip dysplasia. The vet examined him, but could not pinpoint any pain points or discomfort and felt like he might have some inflammatory issue going on. I went home with some Rimadyl to use after activity. He did seem to improve somewhat with rest, so I've been trying to just let him be a dog and take it easy. With continued rest though, I've noticed he is starting to lose muscle mass in his rear end. I took him to a chiropractor and she said I should try getting him to walk backwards, uphill preferably.
With more time going by and no significant improvement, additional research has led me to several good articles on rehabbing hip dysplasia along with some articles on hip flexor or iliopsoas strains. The iliopsoas strain rang a bell because I had read an article on that when I was reading about partial ACL tears and how an iliopsoas strain can be misread as an ACL issue.
Day 1 Rehab
10 minute warm up walk, followed by two cycles of 30 yards walking down a gradual (10 degree) incline and back up again, and then another 10 minute walk again.
Back home we did two reps of five extensions and flexions on each side. He definitely seemed tighter on his right rear extensions. This happens to be the same as the suspected ACL issue two years ago. We then did one rep of five sit-down-sit-stand exercises. For this session, I had him hold the stand for one second, then two, three, until he held five seconds on the last one.
We followed with a 10 minute cool down walk with a five minute massage afterwards.
Edit: We did a 10-15 minute walk in the evening to warm the muscles up. This was followed by two more reps of five rear leg extensions and flexions on each side. He tolerates the stretching with no indication of discomfort. He did seem slightly more comfortable getting up from a down position, but that's probably me being hopeful.
General notes: He started out very excited to get out, but was tiring by the end of the cool down walk. He kept the bounce in his step and did not seem uncomfortable walking. Right leg seemed tighter, but gradually seemed to get full ROM. I don't want to over do it on the first day, but we may take another walk later. I'm expecting some soreness due to lack of condition, but we'll wait and see if he needs a day of rest before another full session.
Last spring, I noticed that he tended to be fairly sore after a Saturday of racing, but was ready to go on Sunday mornings. He had an issue with the nail bed bleeding after activity last June, which combined with other injuries on the team, limited our tournament activity to zero for the last half of the year. At some point during the late summer, I noticed he was really struggling to get up after laying down for any length of time. My thought as this point is that he may have injured himself last year playing frisbee. I let him rest more, which didn't seem to help. I went to the vet suspecting he was showing signs of hip dysplasia. The vet examined him, but could not pinpoint any pain points or discomfort and felt like he might have some inflammatory issue going on. I went home with some Rimadyl to use after activity. He did seem to improve somewhat with rest, so I've been trying to just let him be a dog and take it easy. With continued rest though, I've noticed he is starting to lose muscle mass in his rear end. I took him to a chiropractor and she said I should try getting him to walk backwards, uphill preferably.
With more time going by and no significant improvement, additional research has led me to several good articles on rehabbing hip dysplasia along with some articles on hip flexor or iliopsoas strains. The iliopsoas strain rang a bell because I had read an article on that when I was reading about partial ACL tears and how an iliopsoas strain can be misread as an ACL issue.
Day 1 Rehab
10 minute warm up walk, followed by two cycles of 30 yards walking down a gradual (10 degree) incline and back up again, and then another 10 minute walk again.
Back home we did two reps of five extensions and flexions on each side. He definitely seemed tighter on his right rear extensions. This happens to be the same as the suspected ACL issue two years ago. We then did one rep of five sit-down-sit-stand exercises. For this session, I had him hold the stand for one second, then two, three, until he held five seconds on the last one.
We followed with a 10 minute cool down walk with a five minute massage afterwards.
Edit: We did a 10-15 minute walk in the evening to warm the muscles up. This was followed by two more reps of five rear leg extensions and flexions on each side. He tolerates the stretching with no indication of discomfort. He did seem slightly more comfortable getting up from a down position, but that's probably me being hopeful.
General notes: He started out very excited to get out, but was tiring by the end of the cool down walk. He kept the bounce in his step and did not seem uncomfortable walking. Right leg seemed tighter, but gradually seemed to get full ROM. I don't want to over do it on the first day, but we may take another walk later. I'm expecting some soreness due to lack of condition, but we'll wait and see if he needs a day of rest before another full session.
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