back injury ?

[bedx 51]

took my lurcher out for a walk and let run loose for a while out for over a hour in the freezing cold it was cold didn't have is coat on he is smooth coated and lives indoors.morning after he didn't want to move and walks very slowly when out for a crap.this as been going on for a few days now.all other functions are normal.anyone had similar probs with there dogs

[sandymere 8,263]

Could be lots of things from back injury to rhabdomyolysis or gastric problem etc.

First is there a tender area to an area of muscle?

Will it let you extend all limbs through their normal range of movement without showing discomfort?

Is the urine dark?

Is the dog losing weight?

Has it got a temperature?

If unsure vets.

[bedx 51]

he isn't losing weight urine colour ok limp movement seems ok he his tence around the abdomen and back

[bracken boy 584]

you do need to keep your eye on a dog with no jacket in the cold [bANNED TEXT], but hope it ends well

[sandymere 8,263]

Watch closely for now if improving good if not vets.

Dogs tend to over do it in the snow much like ourselves.

[robin hood 109]

it could be a trapped nerve

[bedx 51]

thanks for the replies lads had him to vets was given anti-inflammatory/pain killer metacam meloxicam he walking alot better hopefully he will make a quick recovery.thinking he could have slipped on ice and twisted his back ?

[robin hood 109]

if hes twisted his back he needs manipulating by a greyhound vet

[skycat 6,174]

if hes twisted his back he needs manipulating by a greyhound vet

 

Agreed: all pain killers and anti-inflammatories will do is mask the problem. Dogs need to go to get their backs sorted out the same as people going to a chiropractor. Pet dog vets don't 'do' these unseen injuries just as GPs don't do back problems apart from prescribing pain killers.

[sandymere 8,263]

Glad you saw someone, likely muscles went into spasm to protect themselves from further damage, the ant inflammatory painkillers will reduce the pain until the muscles settle. Try to keep the dog gently mobilising and gradually build up as the symptoms allow. Road work, then trotting, then once off pain killer gallops. Need to build up the back strength so galloping is key.

Don't worry to much about the spine being misaligned as that would need a major trauma or such like and lead to paralysis or similar, certainly wouldn't expect a quick improvement. A back person may be able to wrench the muscle out of spasm but time and pain killers are a gentler healer.

There are three intervention treatments for non serious lower back pain that all have about the same outcome rate.

1 pain killers and exercise.

2 massage and exercise.

3 chiropractic and further chiropractic.

 

I tend to go for 2 and then 1 if needed.

 

Couple of links below

 

 

http://skeptvet.com/Blog/category/chiropractic/

 

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/category/chiropractic/

Edited December 20, 2012 by sandymere

[skycat 6,174]

The thing is Sandy, most people don't know how to massage correctly: massage done correctly can help speed up recovery time no end. My osteopath would never try and 'wrench' my back out of spasm: you can't manipulate or do anything much to a muscle in acute spasm. But there are various mechanical aids which can help alleviate the spasm. Last time my back did a real bad spasm: laid up for a week, when I eventually managed to crawl to the osteopath she used an ultra sound machine, and something else, can't remember what the name was now, which worked on soft tissue as well. That was the fastest I've ever had it recover: I went back for weekly remedial massage for a fortnight afterwards.

[sandymere 8,263]

Unfortunately the average 'Backman' etc just goes for the wrench and the average dog man goes to a 'Backman' rather than a vet.

Better to work on rehab and then get sorting the cause which is usually a muscle imbalance or weakness with appropriate exercise to strengthen the area or balance apposing muscles. Even chiropractors avoid vertebral subluxation theory yet for the 'Backman' they are still one of the most common diagnosis. How often do you here people saying they took their dog to see someone and the dogs neck was out or back etc which was supposedly put it back with a wrench.

 

Unfortunately most chiros tend to follow a similar path, after all how often do people go and not get a wrench? So the idea of vertebral subluxation (spine misalignment) is now taken as rubbish why wrench unless they are aiming at muscle spasm?

 

If you want to pay a chiro for a massage then all to the good, after all a massage is as good as a wrench as I've already said ; and less likely to cause harm.

Edited December 20, 2012 by sandymere

[beast 1,884]

metacam is a very good painkiller and you can adjust the dose to a low but effective one for each individual dog but because a dog isnt in pain anymore it will often act normal. DONT make the mistake of confusing this with a dog which has healed. still allow time for healing and rehab, depending on the injury this can be 4-6 weeks or even more.

[DazAllison 32]

Possibly damaged a leader

[j j m 6,563]

its most likely a trapped nerve bud