Admit it ….. we have all watched those YouTube videos of three legged dogs running around and completely enjoying life. To me these videos demonstrate how adaptive our dogs are. They are able to change their gait to counter the complete or partial loss of a limb.

In my practice, I frequently observe and feel the effects of how dogs compensate for lameness in a forelimb or even the complete loss of a limb through amputation. Recently, I treated a small breed dog that had one front leg pointing outward, away from its body. The dog’s foot, on the affected leg, was “rolled” forward, so the dog was weight bearing on the inside of its foot. Needless to say, this dog was visibly lame on this front leg with quite a pronounced limp.

How to treat a dog with front leg lameness?

For this young dog, the focus of my treatment was on relieving the areas of greatest muscle tension and injury as follows:

1. The hindlimb and back diagonally opposite the affected forelimb. For this dog, the lumbar area was very sensitive and I needed to treat it very gently.

2. The unaffected forelimb, neck, shoulder and chest stabiliser muscles.

3. The affected forelimb including the neck, shoulder, elbow, carpal and metacarpal joints. I also worked the joints in the dog’s foot.

A study of Beagles with induced lameness in a forelimb support my observations and treatment plan. In this study, the researchers taped a disk to the dog’s foot to induce a limp. This study measured the dogs’ forward and braking forces. Namely, propulsion forces from the hind limbs and braking forces from the forelimbs and the way the forelimb lameness affected these forces.

In steady state motion, the hindlimbs produce a propulsion force and the forelimbs a braking force. These forces are equal and opposing. Therefore, when forelimb function is compromised, it is expected that the dog will exert compensatory forces. This study measured the magnitude and duration of these compensatory forces.

How does a dog’s lameness in the front leg affect their movement?

Braking forces in the affected forelimb significantly decreased and increased in the contralateral forelimb during walking and trotting gaits. Both the magnitude and duration of the braking forces from the affected limb “transferred” to the other forelimb.

The propulsive forces from the contralateral hindlimb were also significantly increased.

Despite fluctuations in deceleration and acceleration forces in the opposing forelimb and diagonal hindlimb, the net fore and aft forces were found to be equal and opposing. The combination of greater propulsion forces in the diagonal hindlimb and reduced braking force in the affected forelimb requires greater muscle activity to maintain the dog’s stability over their centre of mass. This stresses muscles and potentially skeletal structures involved in movement particularly in the following areas:

• Hindlimb retractor muscle activity (gluteals, semimembranous, femoeral biceps)

• Muscles of the lumbar region that stabilise the pelvis

• Forelimb protractor muscles such as the omotransverse and pectorals

Increases in muscle recruitment is likely to result in muscle fatigue and hypertrophy, in the longer term. Overloaded muscles are at greater risk of injury which in a dog with chronic forelimb lameness could seriously affect the dogs’ mobility and overall health.

How can myofunctional therapy benefit dogs with forelimb lameness?

Compensatory muscle overload

Massage, passive range of motion and stretching can loosen and lengthen the fibres of compensatory muscles. Manual therapies can also lubricate the hips, shoulder and other joints stressed by gait adaptations from lameness in the front leg. When treating this young dog, I focused much of the treatment on the dog’s affected forelimb joints (elbow, carpal, metacarpal, digital joints)

Forelimb injury

Where the lameness in the forelimb is due to a soft tissue injury, myofunctional therapy can manage inflammation and pain to aid healing. It can also relieve muscle spasms and tightness to restore the dog’s normal movement.

The young dog with the deviated front leg had sensitive muscle spasms along her thoracic and lumbar spine. Following the treatment, I recommended ongoing ice treatment for the lumbar region due to level of sensitivity. This will be an area of focus of subsequent treatments for this little dog. She also had very tense shoulder and chest muscles in the unaffected front leg – due to uneven loading. Massage, passive range of motion and stretching relieved this tension.

Strength, flexibility and coordination

Myofunctional therapy may also assist a dog with forelimb lameness by designing an exercises to increase the strength of compensatory muscles which is especially important for amputees. Exercises for flexibility and coordination may also be provided to assist in the dog’s rehabilitation and prevent future injury.

Following the first treatment for the dog with the deviated front leg, I recommended a home exercise programme to help relieve muscle tension and aid flexibility in compensatory muscles. In subsequent consultations, we will add to this programme to include strengthening exercises too.

Full Stride provides myofunctional therapy (massage and manual therapy) treatments in Brisbane. I can treat your dog in your home or at my clinic in Brisbane’s northern suburbs. For more information about I can assist your dog, please contact me.

Until next time, enjoy your dogs.

Source:

Abdelhadi, J., Wefstaedt, P., Nolte, I., & Schilling, N. 2012. “Fore-aft ground force adaptations to induced forelimb lameness in walking and trotting dogs.” PloS one, 7(12), e52202.