Aggie becomes an acupuncture pro!

Aggie is a 6 year old stumpy tailed cattle dog – Red Heeler for those who are familiar with the breed.

Aggie is massively ball focused, she LOVES them.  Since around Oct 2014 however, ball chasing has been out of bounds.  Following some major limping Aggie was taken to the vet where she was diagnosed with arthritis in her hips.

I first saw Aggie for massage in early December following this diagnosis.  I watched her gait and it was clear she was limping at the front, and on palpation she had tight bicep, quad and glute muscles.  She was on minimal exercise but had started hydrotherapy.

She went back to her normal vet at the end of December who said the issue wasn't with her hips, it was her shoulder.  So hydro stopped and she started having 10 min controlled walks.  She looked like she was getting a bit better, but then a major digging spree in the garden meant she was lame again.

Meanwhile massage continued – sometimes with treats, sometimes without depending on her mood ;).  She loves her raw food diet so a massage session often entails a frozen kidney or bone in a Kong to keep her focused.

By mid Jan she was back at the vet who suspected bicep tendonitis and a further specialist consultation confirmed it.

Since that diagnosis Aggie has had 2 physio sessions, 4 laser sessions, another visit to her normal vet, and 3 more massage sessions.

In yesterday’s physio session Aggie was an absolute star and relaxed enough for the physio to perform acupuncture – at one point she had 7 needles in.  It didn't seem to particularly bother her and in fact she got quite sleepy.  Acupuncture will help her enormously because it gets in deep in the muscle to release trigger points.

Massage is complementing these other treatments, in particular I have been using cross fibre friction on the origin of her bicep which she doesn't seem to mind at all, working on releasing trigger points, and general relaxation to aid recovery.

Aggie is still not playing with her beloved ball but she is having her 10 min walks, she’s also doing home physio exercises and stretches and is slowly but surely improving.  Go Aggie!!!