I've spent just about every spare moment researching bicep tendonitis treatments, prognosis, etc. and I'm having big regrets about letting the vet give Lola that cortisone shot. He never even mentioned ultrasound, accupuncture, etc. as a possible treatment avenue and I can't believe it didn't occur to me to ask about, esp. considering all I've been through with my own ITB issues. I wouldn't let the doc near me with a cortisone shot, why did I let him give one to Lola so easily? On the other hand, I did some research on this vet and he's had a long, distinguished career full of accomplishments and awards and he's even co-authored a book on orthopedic injuries so why can't I just calm down and trust his judgement? Surely it's occured to him to review all the pro/con research on these shots and treatment of this ailment? I have to admit to getting lost in some of the medical jargon of the articles I found and got tired of googling every other word so it's possible I'm misinterpreting the data. Nonetheless, I'm against giving her any more shots and I'm trying to look into some other options.
The vet admitted he knew nothing about agility or how/if she would be able to do it again. He said I would have to cut down long term on her activities and as an example said if I was running 5 miles with her I could now run only a mile. An 80% reduction in her physical activities???!!! I'm sorry but that's crazy, it's like those doctors who don't deal with athletes and tell you never to run ever again when you have a simple injury. Or maybe not. Maybe it is that serious, I don't know. I don't want her to develop arthritis. I did find one person whose agility dog had a couple of bouts with this and he was able to cure it completely with ultrasound and other non-invasive treatments. The dog is currently doing agility with no problems so that's encouraging.
Agility aside, I can't retire Lola to the couch at 6 years old. Her big love in life is chasing tennis balls and I can't deny her that for evermore. Hopefully I can find a vet with more experience treating canine athletes because there has got to be some way to rehab her so she can still play.
In the meantime I've decided to step away from the computer for a bit because there's no point getting in a tizzy over a bunch of medical articles I may or may not have understood correctly. Really, why DIDN'T the vet provide me with any sedatives?
Hi Elayne,
ReplyDeleteI ended up saying no to cortisone injections from a "big name" othopedic specialist when our Milo trashed his biceps tendon by jumping away when his foot got caught under a door. I didn't really want him to just feel better and then reinjure himself.
We ended up doing PST, therapeutic ultrasound and chiro (since walking with that limp put him out of alignment) and he's been great with only one recurrence. Here are descriptions from the place we went to:
http://tops-vet-rehab.com/modalities.html
I don't know if there is a correlation... but he's been good for two years since I always have him wear his magnetic coat before/after agility runs.
Some non-traditional ideas might work too(?). We limited him to leash walks for the 6+ months of his rehab (it could just have been time that healed him too) and for a 3 year old BC that wasn't much fun for him.
I hope all works out beautifully for Lola!
Best Regards,
Steve
Steve,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the info. I'm so thankful for any information I can get. It's encouraging to know there's a chance she could get through this and still be able to do agility.
I've found a couple of physical therapy places that sound promising and I've decided that's the avenue I'm going to pursue. After dealing with the side effects from the sedatives they gave her I've decided there's no way she's getting any more cortisone shots.