Fwd: Bilateral Gracilis rupture-REPOST

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I was hoping for some help with this case. I have never seen this

injury before...

Flynn is a 3 year old Border Collie that competes in herding. He is

the typical very high drive B.C. He managed to rupture both Gracilis

muscles during a training session.  Unfortunately, it was not diagnosed

until 3 weeks post-injury.  I just saw him yesterday-it is now 6 weeks

post-injury.  Other than being treated with Rimadyl and Robaxin

immmediately post-injury, he has had no treatment or therapy.  His

handler has been resting him(no herding or working, but does play in

the yard).

His gait is fairly normal other than a toeing out of both rear feet. 

When you palpate the Gracilis muscles, they are totally fibrosed into

hard knots.  There is no pain present.  The owner has limited funds so

ultrasound and laser therapy are pretty much out.  I thought I would

just hot pack the area daily and then do deep massage of the muscles to

try to break up some of the fibrosis.  I did this yesterday and Flynn

was remarkably tolerant of this.  I also recommended restarting an

NSAID during this period.

My questions are...

1.   Does anyone have any ideas for more treatment/therapy for this

guy?

2.   If my treatment is appropriate, how long would it generally take

to see some results?

3.   Prognosis wise-I am clueless.  I know it would be career ending

in a racing greyhound, but what about a herding dog?  I told the owner

we would just have to go thru some therapy, then start him out slowly

returning to work, and see how it goes.

4.   Has anyone seen this in dogs other than Greyhounds?

Since the last posting, I have been treating him as above and the

fibrotic areas in the muscle are softening up nicely. My above

questions still stand!

Thanks in advance for the help,

Jan Masica, D.V.M.  C.C.R.T.

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