Sunday, November 18, 2012

Injured Toe

Well it had to happen. Just as Echo and I were getting ready for Open obedience competition and to jump back into agility she injured a toe. The freaky thing was she wasn't lame at a walk or trot. It was only when she was running in the yard with Breeze and would turn that she would briefly hold up her right paw. When I looked sure enough her right outside toe was swollen.




Her other leg


So she went to work with me for xrays and an orthopedic exam.

It turns out she has a small chip fracture off  of her P2 bone and a partial tear of the lateral collateral ligament. The bone chip should heal with no problems-a month of splint rest. The ligament tear may or may not heal. My past experience with ligament tears is they need surgery and months of rest. Since this is only a partial tear, I am hoping a month or so will cause substantial  healing. We injected(her) platelet rich plasma around the joint/ligament tear/chip fracture. Platelet rich plasma has at least 4 different growth factors. This enhances increased fibroblastic activity that turns to collagen. It is also anti-inflammatory. It causes more normal collagen to be laid down than scar tissue. At least this is the theoretical benefit.
So for now it is a month of splint rest than reasses the toe. If the ligament is still partially torn then she has surgery and is out for several more months.




With greyhounds you have to expect injuries but it doesn't make it any easier to live with.

4 comments:

houndstooth said...

I'm sorry! We went through a broken toe a couple of winters ago, and it's no fun! Here's hoping she heals up soon!

Hiking Hounds said...

Sorry to hear that Echo's injured her toe. It sounds like you have given the toe the best chance for a fast recovery. But, like you said, it is really hard when they are injured.

Anonymous said...

I'm soooo sorry to hear about Echo's toe. I swear there is always something that intefers with our best laid plans. Hope that she heals quickly and completely.

Donna

Elf said...

Wow, I didn't know that you had a blog! This was pointed out to me by another blogger who saw the video of you running TCam and wondered whether this was my Boost's sister TCam (yes it is).

BumMER about the toe. Hoping for quick and successful healing.