Tight hamstrings and triceps injury

[Guest guest]

I am new to the world of rehabilitation

and would really appreciate any help with this case.

Sundance is an 8 year old M/N Nova Scotia

Duck Toweling Retriever. About 6 months

ago he had his best run ever and the next day was reluctant to do tunnels (his

favorite). Another vet at my practice

saw him and felt he had lumbar back pain and possible cervical pain. He was put on methocarbamol, Rimadyl,

gabapentin, and rest. He was slowly

improving and about one month ago they were starting to add back some activity

when he jumped off of the bed to bark and the UPS man and became lame on his

right front leg. He was treated with

pain meds (Rimadyl) as needed and rested again.

Since then the lameness on his right front leg seems to come and go per

his owner. To add to all of this his

owner has notice a trembling in his back legs that started 8-10 months ago and

has been becoming more pronounced.

I will preface my exam findings by saying

Sundance is the highest energy dog I have met in a long time. When you touch him he dances, wiggles, and

whines like nothing I’ve ever seen. His

owner does not like to see him restrained.

On exam I felt Sundance had a noticeable lameness in his right front

leg. I also thought he had a short

stride in his left hind limb. I was

unable to do most of his rehab. exam without sedation given what I mentioned above. Under sedation he had decreased flexibility

in his right triceps. It also felt

larger, harder, and more disorganized (for lack of a better description) than

the left. He also had decreased

flexibility in his hamstrings. It seemed

to me it was mostly the gracilis and semimbranosus (but I am new to this). I did not feel any bands in the muscles but

they generally felt firmer and had decreased stretch. The left seemed worse than the right but both

seem affected. (I should note that I also felt his hamstrings under sedation

about 3 months ago and they were tight then too but are worse now) His neck and back felt ok to me (no muscle

spasm). Other than the above findings

the rest of his exam seemed fairly normal.http://youtu.be/hNuBZ04nEL8http://youtu.be/XPcsGDQYUaQ

Questions-

If his forelimb lameness is due to a

triceps strain as I think it is what is the best way to rehab. these?

While he was sedated I did VERY gentle

stretching and massage and lasered the muscle.

His owner reported he was much more sore on this leg the next day. We started him back on Rimadyl.

What could be causing the hamstring

tightness? Do some high end athletes

have tighter hamstrings? Does this breed

get fibrotic myopathy? How do you

diagnose? Given I can’t stretch this dog

in the clinic what would you recommend to help

improve his flexibility? Could

this cause the trembling?

I know I have lots of questions. This is my first agility patient and any help

would greatly be appreciated. Helping

him I’m sure I’ll learn a lot and if his mom’s happy it could go a long way towards

helping my rehab. clinic. Thanks again!

Dr. Falch

[Guest guest]

,I have looked at the videos numerous times and I am just not seeing an abnormal gait. Did you are the owner feel that Sundance was having/showing a problem at the time of filming?Rick Wall, DVMThe Woodlands, TX

[Guest guest]

Rick,At the time we took the video I could appreciate a forelimb lameness on the right front leg as well as a shorted stride on the left HL.  I don't think my video is the best though.  I will try to get some better video.