Jeff is thrilled to be back to soundness and running with his owner

Jeff is a young, fit and bouncy Labrador with a lovely outgoing personality.  Jeff suffered an acute onset, severe right hindlimb lameness whilst out exercising.  X-rays revealed minimal bony changes and the diagnosis was muscular injury and the treatment was non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (rimadyl) and tramadol.  Jeff’s owner felt that he was very anxious and painful and was concerned that his level of lameness was not improving, despite his medications and rest.

I met Jeff 10 days following his injury. On examination, Jeff was extremely right hind lame with hock rotation visible on weight bearing and toe dragging, he was falling to the left and swinging his tail in attempt  to maintain his balance.   There was significant loss of muscle on his right leg compared with his left and signs of pain in his lumbosacral region in the midline and to the right as well as flinching on palpation of his inner thigh and abdomen.  There was no pain and an equal range of movement between each side of hips, hocks and stifles. The clinical signs suggested a probable muscular injury of the groin area.

As this was an acute case of muscular injury, I was hopeful of seeing rapid results following acupuncture treatment. Jeff had his treatment at 1pm, after which he slept for 2 hours then wanted to go for a walk. His owner reported that he was moving smoother although still uneven when trotting and was much happier in himself.  The following morning Jeff was comfortable on a short walk. He received a second acupuncture treatment after 3 days and has been sound since. His muscle has improved and he is out running again with his owner.

Jeff’s Owner Writes:

‘Emma treated my 4 year old Labrador after an acute and very painful groin strain. He wasn’t able to weight bear for 1 week before Emma’s visit and was being prescribed Tramadol for pain relief which wasn’t really doing anything apart from making him into a zombie. 2 hours after Emma’s initial visit Jeff (my lab) was able to put weight through his leg and wanted to go for a walk for the first time since his injury. 3 days later Jeff had one more treatment although he was 90% better and the muscle he had lost had returned. Since he is fully fit again and back to his daily run with me. I can’t thank Emma enough or recommend early treatment of acute injury for maximum benefit.’ Michelle