Last week my 14 year old dog had a fall and couldn’t get herself back on her feet. By the time I got to her, she was distressed and had overworked her hind limbs trying to get up. For two days, she rested and needed assistance to get her out to the toilet. I am pleased to say she is now moving about normally again and re-established her exercise routine.

So what did I do to get her back on her feet and moving?

Massage

I massaged my girl frequently to achieve the following objectives:

• Firstly, I wanted to address the muscle tension throughout her body from trying to get purchase on the tiles to get up. My girl was extremely tense through the neck, shoulders, chest, and back. In many of these muscles, I could feel small spasms and the fibres with tight and adhered. I treated these areas to increase circulation and hydrate the muscles, eliminate spasms and separate the muscle fibres. I treated her in several short treatments throughout the days that she was immobile.

• Secondly, I wanted to maintain good circulation and lymphatic drainage while my dog was immobile. Maintaining arterial and venous circulation is crucial for delivering nutrients to the dog’s muscles and organs and draining lymph from these areas too.

• Thirdly, I used massage to calm my girl. She was distressed following the fall and also being assisted to go outside to toilet. After each “excursion”, I massaged her to help her relax and rest, which is what her sore muscles needed.

Passive range of motion

While my girl was immobile, I performed passive range of motion on both her fore and hind limbs. As an older dog, there is some atrophy in her limbs, particularly the hind limbs. I was very aware that two or three days of immobilisation along with the soft tissue injury may affect the health of the receptors in her muscles. I therefore performed passive range of motion exercises three times each day of her immobilisation to maintain the health of her nervous system.

Lessons learnt

Those couple of days that my girl was out of action were very tense and a little sad as we all had the thought that “this was her time”. Fortunately, she is healthy and was able to recover but I have implemented a couple of measures based on this incident.

Placement of mats on slippery floors

We all know the risks of dogs living on tiled or polished timber floors (See http://www.fullstride.com.au/blog/are-slippery-floors-safe-for-dogs ). I have always had mats on the floors to prevent slips and falls. What I didn’t have however were strategically placed mats. I had positioned mats along the length of hallways and at doorways, however where my girl slipped was coming around a corner (probably too fast because she won’t slow down) where her foot was not in contact with a mat for only one stride.

I have now reviewed the places on the tiles where the dogs are most likely to lose their footing and repositioned the mats here.

Bedding suitable for older dogs

As dogs age, their joints can become sore. Consequently, the dog is less likely to flex their joints which means that when they are resting their legs may protrude off the beds. When they dog attempts to stand up, their feet don’t have purchase on the ground or bed. I fixed this simply by putting two beds together for my girl. She can spread out when she is asleep without fear of rolling off the bed. She can also easily stand up from her bed.

We also incline one edge of our dogs’ beds so it is easier for them to get up. I have also placed mats around the beds on the tiles, so her feet don’t slip when she is getting up out of these beds.

Toenail trimming for good floor friction

My girl detests toenail trimming, so unlike my boy who has a foot trimmed every second day, her nails are a weekly job. Subsequently, her nails can grow to a point where she losses friction on the floor. (See http://www.fullstride.com.au/blog/do-i-need-to-trim-my-dogs-nails ) She is now on a daily toenail trimming regime.

I am fortunate that my girl recovered from her fall and didn’t sustain a serious soft tissue injury or worse. While we need to accommodate our older dogs needs as they age and don’t move as freely as they once did, we also need to consider how younger dogs negotiate their living environment. Creating a safe environment for our dogs helps to maintain good musculoskeletal health and set them up for a long, healthy and active life.

Full Stride provides canine myofunctional therapy including massage therapy and exercise therapy on the north side of Brisbane. Please contact me to discuss how your older (and younger) dogs would benefit from a myofunctional treatment. You can also follow Full Stride on Facebook for regular updates.

Until next time, enjoy your dogs.