hi there,
can anybody recommend a vet in the palermo area.. i just rescued a dog who has a front foot problem..its basically lame.. not broken.. potentially an old fracture.. surgery is out.. but the last vet in chile recommended physical therapy.. electric stimulation therapy.. says the dog can recover the use of the foot with these therapies..
any help would be appreciated..
i just found this post.. this is what is going on..
It sounds like your dog probably has radial nerve paralysis. This nerve
crosses bone just above the elbow and it is very vulnerable to injury when
a dog is hit by a car. There is no treatment that I am aware of that helps
the nerve regenerate if it is severely damaged. However, the nerve will
often recover from the injury on its own. It is very important to do
physical therapy to ensure that the muscles have not contracted too much
for the leg to work when the nerve does regenerate. When the nerve is
completely damaged the foot tends to turn inward and become contracted in
that position. Splinting the foot may prevent this inward turning and allow
some use even if the nerve won't heal. It may not be too late to consider
this option if recovery has not occurred. In other cases, nothing seems to
help much and amputation is necessary because the dog tends to try to walk
on its wrist area since that is where the bend inwards occurs. This leads
to chronic skin ulcers and infections and amputation stops these problems.
can anybody recommend a vet in the palermo area.. i just rescued a dog who has a front foot problem..its basically lame.. not broken.. potentially an old fracture.. surgery is out.. but the last vet in chile recommended physical therapy.. electric stimulation therapy.. says the dog can recover the use of the foot with these therapies..
any help would be appreciated..
i just found this post.. this is what is going on..
It sounds like your dog probably has radial nerve paralysis. This nerve
crosses bone just above the elbow and it is very vulnerable to injury when
a dog is hit by a car. There is no treatment that I am aware of that helps
the nerve regenerate if it is severely damaged. However, the nerve will
often recover from the injury on its own. It is very important to do
physical therapy to ensure that the muscles have not contracted too much
for the leg to work when the nerve does regenerate. When the nerve is
completely damaged the foot tends to turn inward and become contracted in
that position. Splinting the foot may prevent this inward turning and allow
some use even if the nerve won't heal. It may not be too late to consider
this option if recovery has not occurred. In other cases, nothing seems to
help much and amputation is necessary because the dog tends to try to walk
on its wrist area since that is where the bend inwards occurs. This leads
to chronic skin ulcers and infections and amputation stops these problems.
