Henry is a two year old rescue dog from Romania. He was first presented to the vets on 28th February 2021 with a hind leg issue. He was unable to weight bear appropriately on his hind legs, causing neurological deficits, that also affected his front legs, and was suffering from a severely hunched spine. He had a significant amount of muscle atrophy on his hind legs and was physically unable to hold his weight appropriately using his hind legs. X-rays confirmed Henry was suffering from a severe case of bilateral Luxating Patellas.
Henry’s first surgery was performed in March 2021 whilst under care of a rehoming charity, followed by the second surgery on 13th September 2021 with his new owners. Unfortunately for Henry, anaesthetics are not ideal as he is drug sensitive, reacting badly on recovery.
It took him several weeks to be able to weight bear after surgery, and he had continued poor posture. The referring vet was concerned he had a spinal or hip issues which was causing him to shift his weight forward on his front legs and have a continued hunched spine with very limited range of motion in his hind legs. He was considering referring Henry for a CT scan.
Due to his sensitivity to medications, Henry’s owners were keen to try and help him by using complementary therapies.
Henry had his first massage session on 22nd October 2021. He was toe touching his left hind leg, shifting his weight forward and had an obvious spinal arch. His hind legs were held in a cow-hocked stance (where his legs are close together and hocks are turned inwards nearly touching each other) and was obviously trying to disperse his weight away from his hind legs, putting him at risk of shoulder and elbow injury. His owner reported he was unable to walk very far as he got tired easily – not surprising when his muscle mass was only 18cm on his left hind leg and 17cm on his right hind leg.
Henry started having massage with Dogapy Rehabilitation every 1-2 weeks to help boost his circulation, drain away any inflammation and treat any superficial muscle tension. All of this made Henry feel more comfortable, meaning he was able to weight bear appropriately on his hind legs, putting less pressure on his front end. This also allowed his spine to straighten out because he had better posture due to being more comfortable.
By his fourth massage session his hind leg muscle mass had increased to 19.9cms on both legs. His owner had noticed he wasn’t weight shifting forward as much and his spine was much straighter. He was able to hold his hind legs in the natural position instead of the cow-hocked posture. The referring vet was very impressed and actually asked what had happened! Henry now had a very good range of motion in all of his limbs and didn’t resent any leg manipulation.
On his eighth massage session, Henrys hind leg muscle mass had increased even more to 20cms on each leg. He was able to engage his muscles appropriately to sit square and his owner reports Henry can really “put the breaks on whilst on a walk” if he doesn’t want to go. He weight bears equally and has a lovely posture.
Henry has just started a course of hydrotherapy to compliment his massage treatment to gain a bit more muscle mass and re-educate his muscles on walking in the appropriate gait pattern. At this point, Henry does not need any more anaesthetics as previously feared.
Henry just after surgery. As you can seen the spine is very hunched and he is unable to put weight on his hind leg. When he sits his legs are out to the side as there wasn’t enough muscle to hold them square.
A recent picture of Henry. As you can see his is weight bearing on all of his legs and his spine is much straighter. In the sitting position, you can see his hindlegs are pulled into an appropriate sitting position with his hind leg muscles engaging nicely.