Tricep Tendonitis

[Magic516]

Hi all-

I rescued my bestfriend 6 years ago. Needless to say how much I love her.

About a month ago Magic started limping. I took her to the vet and decided to have x-rays taken. I cant tell you how many happy tears I shed to find out it was not cancer.

They send me home with steriods and what a difference...she was her old self. Now that she is off the steriods the limp is back. It breaks my heart. They feel it could be Tricept Tendonitis and want to send her x-rays to Cornell.

I would appreciate any info, advise, or experience concerning this matter. Can I give her any over the counter meds to help her? I heard and know little about Move Free, Adequan, Rimadyl and Deramaxx. Is this somithing I should look into.

Again any assistance would greatly be appreciated.

Happy Holidays!
Debbie

[Judi W]

Well, the idea for that type of injury is not to supress the pain, but rather to give the injury time to heal. While the steroids can give a prompt response it can be misleading because that is not healing. Healing for that sort of thing can take up to 3 months of restricted activity. It should also be noted that steroids can weaken some ligaments and tendons so while limited use is a good tool for diagnosis it is not a long term solution.

Adequan is for joint disorders and will not be affective for soft tissue injury. The anti inflamatories do assist in healing but should be used with the restrictions of activity not instead of.

If nothing shows on the xrays, not sure about sending them on. Can't hurt but I would ask what they think Cornell would see on them. Much of the determination for this kind of thing is elimination of visible (or xrays) and hands on. There are some vets who specialize in sports injuries in dogs and finding someone like that would be your best choice. Since the advent of agility, it seems soft tissue injuries are happening more and more often and the field of treating them and rehab can be somewhat specialized.

[Rott-Wiley]

Debbie, it's good that you had xrays taken to rule out any bone damage. Soft tissue injuries are generally treated with restricted activity and anti-inflammatory medications, such as deracoxib, ketoprofen, carprofen, etodalac or aspirin. Talk it over with your vet and see which med and what dosage to give.