Rehab for a Large Dog's Knee

[Linda O]

My son's Bernese Mountain Dog (a breed that is generally known for hip dysplasia), ironically does not have hip problems, but rather a rear "knee" issue. It came on somewhat suddenly early in the year (or end of last year), so maybe it was due to an injury that we were not aware of at the time. The only solution the vet threw out at the time was a very expensive surgery.

We started glucosamine/chondroiton a while back to see what that would do, seeing some limited improvement (vet said to continue but didn't know how much this would help), but does anyone know of specific movements that can be done to rehabilitate the leg? I know Teresa has Buddy go up on his back legs to strengthen the joints, but that is not possible with this nearly 100 lb. dog. She's a real sweetheart, and you can tell when she's hurting, especially when she first gets up and onto her feet very slowly.

She does play with our other dog, so she is not just laying around all of the time, but I am wondering what we can do specifically for her to help her improve. Maybe some of you animal T-Tappers would have suggestions. Or maybe there are enough similarities between dogs and humans that there are some T-Tapp moves that we can somehow "manually manipulate" her leg to help her along...though I can't quite picture what those would be.

Thanks in advance for any insight! Oh, my son will thank you, too! He hurts for her.

[ayj67]

Linda,

Did you ever get that LED light pad we talked about? The LED with Florida company, people use those to cure and heal horses, it it can help joint injuries and sprains for horses, it can help with dogs.

[ilwzw2]

We have a Yorkie who had a partially torn acl and what helped him was laser treatments. The treatment worked beautifully and the only other alternative was surgery. The laser treatments were very calming and he enjoyed them! He went a couple times a week for a month and it wasn't too expensive, especially considering the cost of surgery! Our vet said he has some patients who routinely comes in for laser as a preventative treatment.

I don't know if this would work for your son's dog but it may be worth looking into.

Sharon