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Class IV Laser Therapy


MaryP

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My 12-year-old has been on Adequan shots since he was 8. They've been great and have helped him a lot. Two days ago, though, he had an incident where, I believe, he lost his balance while squatting to poop and ended up with his back legs flat on the ground facing toward his head and he was in a lot of pain and unable to get himself back on his feet from that position. Luckily, we saw the whole thing and my fiance was able to immediately run to him and help him back on his feet. Milo was stiff and sore, but was walking fairly normally after about 15 minutes.

 

After that incident, I decided it was time to look at other options for helping him to remain active and pain free for as long as possible. He is otherwise a very healthy, alert, happy guy. So, today we had a consult with my vet to discuss my options. I don't want to do surgery at his age and I'd like to stay away from cortisones as long as possible. My vet suggested class IV laser therapy and said that a lot of dogs are having great success with it. I did laser therapy on a lick granuloma that Milo had on his leg a year or so ago and it worked perfectly, but I'm wondering about the success on dogs with HD. Has anyone here used it on their dysplastic (aging) dog? If so, what has been your experience with it? Thanks in advance!

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I had it done to Lily when she was just out of surgery, or at least I think it was the same thing.

It didn't help her issues but it really did help her heal from the surgery. I never saw an injury heal so quickly and it was a huge incision.

 

Long ago and before they came up with the treatments that they have now, Mick suffering horribly from TBD's had laser therapy at our holistic vet. I couldn't tell if it helped or not, we even rented a machine so we could continue at home. Years later I met a lady at a dog trial that went through a very similar situation as Mick (late diagnosis of TBD's) she bought the machine for her hands which she said weren't working and very painful. She swore by the laser treatments.

 

When I took Lily you could tell it made her feel better. When it was being done she rarely showed any reaction, the tech said it felt like a tingling sensation when applied. The vet that offered the therapy had the machine because she uses it on herself and swears by it.

 

 

If cost is not an issue, I sure would be trying it.

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Julie, it is supposed to help with inflammation and promote healing of damaged tissues. It is also supposed to promote the release of endorphins to provide pain relief. It worked wonderfully on the lick granuloma that Milo had. It's usually tough to get those to heal on him. I've had to have them surgically removed before. When they did the laser therapy on him, though, we left the vet's office and he never licked it again and it healed in a matter of days. I was skeptical of it at first, but I was really impressed with the results. But that was just a simple skin issue. I'm wondering, though, if anyone has had any experience using it on an elderly dog with HD. My vet said that a lot of people are having tremendous success with it, but I'd love to hear that first hand from folks that have tried it.

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Jen had it with her injury, though her's did not directly involve a joint. They did however use it over the "ankle" joint to increase blood blow while she was healing. Julie if I can find the literature they gave me I will bring it next time I see you.

 

It was explained to me that it not only helped Jen's tendon fibers align properly that it would also help her ankle joint, which could have been compromised by the instability of that joint because of her injury, by increasing blood flood to the area which in turn helps to reduce inflammation and the warmth brings about pain relief.

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So then the main result for an elderly dog with HD would be pain relief? I guess that's the part I'm not getting. And also how laser treatment actually works (from a laser/physics standpoint).

 

For example, would laser therapy be contraindicated on a dog with a tumor (since you wouldn't want to increase blood flow to a tumor). And how, exactly, does it increase blood flow? And how would increased blood flow help the dysplastic dog?

 

Probably questions y'all can't answer, but it's got me curious. I doubt I could afford such treatments for Jill, but it would be interesting to find out more about how it's supposed to work. I guess I'll have to find some time to do some research.

 

J.

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Julie - I have no idea on your questions. I do know that we used lasers a lot in horses to help align fibers, now whether it works or not I have no idea, but I went ahead and did it with Jen because of the nature of her injury. I can tell you what it cost me. My regular vet up here does it, along with the rehab vet, but the regular vet did Jen's laser therapy on the days she wasn't at rehab. For a package of 10 laser treatments it was around (this is from memory) $150...

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Is this what is also called cold laser therapy?

 

Cold laser treatments were part of Torque's rehab after his shoulder surgery. I do not know if the txs improved his recovery (since he would have been improving after the surgery in any case), but when he was getting his treatments, he would relax as I have never seen him at the vet's. One time, the vet tried a higher setting to see if he would tolerate it, but he definitely did not like the higher setting.

 

Perhaps your vet or a rehab vet would be able to give you names of clients who have had dysplastic dogs treated with the laser?

 

Jovi

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From what I understand it has to do with the collagen fiber. Let me see if I can find an article on it.

 

 

 

I just don't see how the explanation given in the document Mark linked to explains realigned tendon fibers, but I'm sure there's a lot of information that's lacking, and which might explain how that works.

 

J.

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I've not done it for my dogs, but I'm interested to read the discussion because my vet is dying to to this to Tweed, who has developed yet another mystery, persistent limp (but this time it's not the sesamoids, its in his shoulder). I've not had the money to spend, and I'm skeptical anyway. I'm not really sure, other than pain relief, how it would help CHD cases though.

 

RDM

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Sheena,

I have yet to read anything that convinces me that it does anything more than perhaps release endorphins (which is I imagine what helps alleviate pain) and increase blood flow to the region being treated. I don't think it would be too difficult to do some controlled studies that examine the healing process with and without laser therapy and compare the physiological differences, if any. All I've read so far is that laser therapy speeds up the energy production process in cells, which in turn promotes healing, but no one is drawing an actual connection between the two that makes sense to me. If the treatment were cheap, I might try it, but I wouldn't shell out big bucks for it, not without some evidence that it does what it's claimed to do.... JMO.

 

Of course, you could try it with Tweed and if he makes a quick and complete recovery, then that's one more case to add to the anecdotal pile. My Pip also has recurring shoulder lameness. I'm taking him to a rehab vet in two weeks and hoping she can figure out what it is and what I can do to fix it short of putting him on strict crate rest forever.

 

J.

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In humans its controversial, and Medicare won't pay for it's use. I was very skeptical, but I worked in a clinic that had a unit and would use it on non Medicare patients. I have to admit that I saw better clinical results in the HMO patients that had cold laser vs. the Medicare patients with the same injuries who didn't get the treatment, particularly in those with diabetic neuropathy in the lower extremities.

 

How does that relate to CHD? Well, the laser does penetrate tissue and increase temperature and blood flow which would help wounds and soft tissue heal by getting them more oxygen. It also seemed to have a pain relieving affect on damaged joints in people, more so than the estim and short wave diathermy we also used, so I imagine that the endorphin affect allowed for greater mobility, which allowed for more strengthening.

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We decided to go ahead with laser treatments on Milo. So, once he's done, I'll report back on what I think of them for anyone else who might be considering this treatment option.

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I have used the infrared "cold laser" for over 20 years, on myself and on the animals. We have some convenient portable little devices. (made by a personal ccontact) Dr Lorne McKibbon introduced this to us when he was treating race horses successfully. The laser will help in healing damages, as well as remove some excess fluid pressure. Growth of new tissues is also stimulated. There is a lot of literature, but I have been lucky to see myself and the animals have the help.

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