Meet Wilf
Sometimes behaviour and mobility are more related than imagined.
Wilf is a handsome 7 year old Cockapoo who was referred to me with repeated limping and stiffness in his rear legs. The vet had said that he has possible arthritis of his spine and hips but does present with stress and anxiety.
Talking to his Mum and Dad, they said that he has always been slightly anxious and would frequently bark if someone came too close to them. Despite his size, he is very protective to his humans. He also tends to be reluctant around larger dogs, preferring to stay away.
Two years ago, he developed a pneumonia type infection from which he recovered but then he started to display the occasional limp with yelping every now and again when being lifted into the car. Sometimes, in the evenings, he also struggles to get up as though he is stiff. Clearly something going on.
When I walked in, I was met with Wilf in full barking territorial mode. But I did as I do, and placed the massage mat down on the floor and sat by it. It took seconds for him to wander away from his Mum, sniff the mat and plonk himself by my legs. This was going to be a doddle.
He drifted into doggy bliss until I touched his left hips when I received a definite look. He didn’t pull away, it was just that look you recognise after years of doing this of “OK….that is a little sore…..but not enough for me to walk away”.
The session was mainly about empowering his Mum with a daily routine to help to alleviate his discomfort and hopefully enable him carry on enjoying himself without being anxious of other dogs possibly knocking him over which would cause him more pain. With Wilf, this was so easy – he loved the lot. Effleurage – mmmmmm, skin rolling – ahhhhhhh, kneading – bring it on. The works.
As the pictures show, by the end of the session, Wilf was anything but anxious or stressed.
A few days later, his owner wrote to me saying “Thank you Les for a terrific session. Wilf had his first session with us last night and even turned over himself, so clearly loves it.
Thanks again"
I think that is a result
I've now created a YouTube playlist on my AchyPaw channel with clips from several of the classes and workshops I have delivered over the years, including this one.
The video clips can all be found here
Alison heard of me from a local dog groomer and asked me over to try and help her dog Kizzy who has been displaying issues with her right leg for the past six months after a suspected fall.
When I walked up to her door, Kizzy’s Mum came out and said “I know you”. Indeed she did. This was Alison, the person who taught me all about human massage way back in 1996/97 at City College Brighton. Here was someone who gave me my qualifications TWENTY years ago and now here I was helping her with massage therapy. Spooky. How the world turns.
After a quick “Goodness…what have you been up to?” and twenty year catch up, I was introduced to the adorable frisky Kizzy - a 4 year old Parson Jack Russell/Springer Spaniel cross (yes….THAT frisky). She immediately showed me how much she loves to bounce and play and lick while hiding her right rear leg.
She has become quite clever at hiding the point of issue while just getting on with being Kizzy. But that is what dogs do. Alison is a trained professional human physical therapist but was looking at Kizzy as a parent/guardian rather than through her trained therapist eyes. Once she could see how Kizzy was compensating with her gait and how she felt, she knew how to help.
Kizzy had been diagnosed as suffering from a probable luxating patella on her right rear leg, but of low grade currently. Alison was advised to look for physiotherapy as first treatment, keeping any surgical intervention as a later option.
Despite Kizzy having a therapist as a Mum, she took a while to accept massage. However, after 30 minutes or so, I asked Alison to feel where I was working and Kizzy looked round to her as though to say “Erm, no Mum…..Dr Les can do it thank you”. Oh, how the world turns! But soon Mum will be as good as me.
Between Kizzy and I, we identified several places on her body where she needs and wants massage which Mum now has to do, plus some simple gentle weight-bearing and stretching exercises to build up the muscles and mobility of her rear right leg. Hopefully, we can help her regain her confidence in using that leg and start walking comfortably again.
A further 6 professionals from the Healing Animals Organisation qualified for the Level Two Diploma after learning another 10 massage techniques, passive movements and stretches, exploring a variety of conditions they may encounter with dogs, conditioning and wellness in dogs including a warm-up and cool-down routine plus a unique lymphatic drainage routine. They then practiced a number of active exercises.
Classes run by AchyPaw are far more fun than traditional workshops where PowerPoint is overused as can be seen in these pictures where even the dogs get involved. Before the professionals attempt any move on a dog, they try it out on themselves first to gain a first hand experience of what it feels like
We even have a singalong to one of the new myofascial release moves - The Locomotion
Way back in July 2014 we delivered a Foundation to Canine Massage workshop to a group of dog groomers in Pevensey (pictures here ). This week I had a call from someone who had attended asking for my help with her senior Schnauzer who now needs a bit of help with his back legs.
The vet gave me a full and clear outline of his recent history and issues which started last October when he started to limp on both rear legs but particularly the right. The vet found his right knee had a distinct Drawer and suspected a cruciate issue. Due to his age and the fact he did not seem uncomfortable with weight bearing, it was decided to treat this issue without surgery but with medication.
In a dog with no cruciate issue, the joint should only work like a hinge - bending up and down because the healthy and strong cruciate ligaments hold it in place and prevent it from going in any other direction. When these ligaments have broken or become stretched, the knee can also be made to move forward and backwards. This is the vet meant by 'Drawer' and if you look at some of the YouTube videos of this test, they look very uncomfortable.
In Sweep's case, a subsequent investigation from the vet in December appeared to show that the Drawer effect had lessened on the left side but he did have pain in both his knees and hips. It was most likely that he hadn't snapped his cruciate but that the tendons had stretched so the joint had become floppy which has altered his balance.
Now he was on reduced exercise, which started him on the vicious cycle of losing muscle strength in the rear while overloading the front. Time for massage and exercises and a visit from Dr Les.
The wastage in his rear legs was noticeable and he was wobbly here - preferring to sit side-saddle (see picture) rather than on his haunches.
His massage session started in that position until he gradually realised this was helping and lay down on the mat for me.
90 minutes later he was still there....
Luckily he loves his treats and with the help of some sprats I was able to devise some exercises he can do with his Mum to try and build up those back leg muscles and restore his confidence.
It certainly seemed to do the trick as after this time he stood up with more confidence. "He has the spring back in his step" his Mum said.
Hopefully we can help to restore his quality of life with the massage and exercises and help him to walk without a wobble.
He sent me a message the next day saying "Hello Les, it's Sweep here. Thank you for coming to see me yesterday, I'm feeling so much more like my old self and I even got up out of my basket (something I haven't felt like doing for a while ) to greet Mum with a waggy tail when she came home from sprat shopping this morning 😊. I've been for a little walk and feel more confident and sturdy , after just one magic massage ! THANK YOU , from Me and my Mum"
Third new dog of the week and we’re back to long worded conditions again. This time it was a dog referred from St Francis Vets with Legg-Calve-Perthes disease. This is a degeneration of the hip joint due to damage of blood supply to the femoral head. The disease causes the femoral head to collapse which affects the mobility due to resulting pain. In this case, Shaun operated with a Femoral Head and Neck Excision in December 2016.
The beautiful puppy with this condition was Scout, an 11 month old Fox Terrier. She had been getting on quite well since the operation and has been to hydrotherapy ten times now. But over the past week she seemed to have gone backwards in mobility so Shaun asked me to visit to see if I could detect what might be going on and offer help.
The thigh muscles of her affected leg have wasted noticeably. This is no doubt due to her not being able to use that leg after surgery, then realising it was sore so not wanting to use that leg, which in turn made the wastage worse so she is now unable to use that leg. Instead she has moved her right rear leg into a tripod position tucking her left behind it (as shown in the picture).
The aim was to restore her confidence so that she would place her left leg down again. It is not a case of she can’t do it. She can when she wants to. She just doesn’t want to. She is clearly thinking why bother using four legs when I get on quite happily thank you with just three. How to make her want to use that leg again?
She sat across my lap and presented me with her affected side. She needed no encouragement to relax in a massage but was unsure when touching her thigh. She didn’t get off my lap, she just looked at me as though to say “That’s an Ouch Dr Les”. But gentle warming moves sent her back to sleep allowing some more therapy. Stretches caused the same response. Hip flexion was fine but with extension I received the look.
I made an exercise routine for her owners plus gave them a massage routine to rebuild the strength in her wasted thigh.
Interestingly, her Mum does yoga in the front room and Scout always joins in giving great body stretches. A quick search of YouTube resulted in a number of excellent yoga stretches Mum and Scout can do together. This will be great for rehabilitation as yoga moves are controlled and precise which is what Scout needs at the moment.
I’m always willing to try something new. Who knew I’d be adding Yoga to the mix of therapies on offer?
Noddy is a desperately handsome black Labrador who is approaching 11 years old and lives over in Petworth. He recently had a slip and had started to become stiff in his rear legs with possible back strain. His Mum wanted him checked over and massaged to ease out his discomfort.
Noddy was described as a ‘very alpha dog’ which fits perfectly with his magnificent regal head and his manner. Although he immediately decided to play cute with me and tuck his head under my shoulder, massage was going to be on his rules. He would settle down for a few minutes, then walked away. He came back, massage, walk away. Repeat. This was the rule. Well, until 60 minutes of that game when he decided that massage was, in fact, wonderful and something that even an alpha male can enjoy. He simply lay down without moving. As well as working on his rear end, which is where he seemed uncomfortable, I also concentrated on his shoulders and neck which had become tight due to compensation and was probably making his out of balance.
We went through a series of exercises to help keep his back and neck supple and to assist the proprioception of his rear legs. Again, exercises were on his rules. I would set the exercise up. He would do them. He would lick the treat. If the treat was not immediately lickable, he stopped. Luckily the treats I use are 3 calories each so we could abide by his rules of exercise = treat.
Noddy even has his rules about cuddling. Again, on his terms and when he wants one. But you would never believe that seeing how he responded to guided massage from his Mum. He took everything she could give her.
With his seniority, the plan is to keep him mobile and comfortable with regular maintenance sessions.
His Mum sent me a couple of texts when they got home : “He is so chilled he’s almost horizontal”. “We just did a walk and he is moving beautifully. I can see a discernible difference”.
But the following day the text arrived "Noddy is moving beautifully today. The biggest change is with his shoulders and front legs. He's got his natural bounce back. I could tell immediately he got up this morning that he was in better shape". Working just on his hips, the presenting problem, would not have made such considerable improvement.
Even Alpha Dogs with loads of rules benefit from massage, especially if all parts of the body are covered.
