Physical Therapy

I officially got my physical therapy instructions from the vets at WSU, so this morning Mom and I had our first session.  She has been icing my back legs since Monday but today was a bit more intensive.  First, she used a warm, damp cloth to warm up my back right leg for 10 minutes. Then, she did about 5-6 different exercises on my leg.  The papers in front of me are the exercise directions.  She did things like bending my toes, moving my ankle back toward my booty, straightening my legs, and other things like that.  At first I was a little weirded out by all of this but once the treats started flowing I was good to go. BOL!  Actually she limited my treats but they did help.  She was counting to five and holding each movement of my leg as she did them.  Reluctantly, I will admit it was very soothing and I slowly lowered my body down to the ground even further and Mom says she could feel me relax.  She also said my eyes communicated relaxation to her as well, but I really don't think she can tell that from my eyes.  After all the exercises, she then iced my leg for 10-15 minutes with a bag of CORN!  Can you believe that...corn, really?  The part of my back right leg that is actually the worst is my deep digital flexor tendon which runs down the inside of my right hock.  That part did get iced too, but now that Mom knows its exact location she will focus on that area the most.  After all that she then did the same thing to my left leg and apparently we get to do it again tonight!  I may start getting used to all this pampering.

No more of this...

in the near future.  The good news though is that I DON'T have a bone/joint disorder like we thought.  My joints looked fine on the CT scan performed at Washington State University.  The doc did say that I have tendonitis in my back right hock area though...imagine that, a sports injury?  Me?  ;) 

Clearly, as evidenced from the picture above, you can see how playful and active I have ALWAYS been in the past so it's no wonder this happened to me.  Tendonitis can be caused by a one-time injury (acute) or by repeated, high-impact activity such as running and jumping (chronic).  I have always been an excellent runner, and it's one thing that I totally enjoy doing, but won't be doing much of that for awhile.

Mom and Dad talked to the vet about how I like to play with other dogs too...I always go back and forth trying to get them to play with me...ya know, trying to "bait" them into a game of chase.  This back and forth movement on my back legs has probably put some strain on my tendons and everything else back there, so the biggest challenge once I'm ready for doggie play again will be to prevent me from being so hard on my back legs like this. For now, I am on strict rest for 4 weeks and only leash walks which I am used to at this point.  Mom has let me off-leash a couple of times though when we are by ourselves and I have maintained a calm demeanor...no tearing off to do my crazy "hot laps" where I run in circles.  Probably because every time I even look like I am about to run Mom says "slow" and totally kills the mood. ;)  Mom and Dad will also be icing and maybe applying heat to my legs twice daily for 10 minutes each.  Right now, we are just icing and waiting for more detailed directions from the vet.  I am also staying on the Rimadyl for a little longer, but Mom and Dad plan to get me off of the drugs soon, as they prefer not to have me on medications if I will be ok without it.  After 4 weeks, they will slowly start building me back up to a more active level.

I must say, even though I was freaked out, the WSU vets were very thorough and nice.  I had a whole team of doctors just fussing over me...that's the way it should always be. ;)  They kept saying I was a good dog, but of course they also said I was a very nervous girl and they tattled on me to Mom and Dad.  They told them I was not cooperative and they had to take me to a separate room to sedate me.  After they sedated me I vomited too, but they said that is common.  Haha...vomit is what they get for "man-handling" me and tattling! BOL!  Mom and Dad do admit that I can get nervous in unfamiliar situations but mostly it's when strangers start poking and prodding me and forcing me to do things.  I get uncomfortable with this just a little. I have always been a bit of a touch-me-not girl unless it's with certain people and even then I only prefer to be cuddled and touched at certain times. Plus, Mom thinks the tile floors and vibrations from concrete vet buildings spook me on top of everything else.  Anyway, I suppose I could work on that a bit. ;)

Just wanted to update all of my blog buddies...thanks for keeping me in your thoughts.  I will try to catch up with you all soon!

Love,

Nala