Six weeks to go! It’s all hands on deck at Movement Referrals: Independent Veterinary Specialists and things are moving along apace! We can’t wait to show you round in person, so drop us a line if you fancy a tour, an invitation to our “open house”, or just a chat about our friendly, independent, Specialist Ortho and Neuro referrals.
OPENING EARLY MAY 2023!
#jointhemovement
#theexperiencematters
The common calcaneal tendon (CCT), also known as the Achilles tendon, is the combined insertion of several muscles, the biggest contributor being the gastrocnemius (calf muscle). Most quadrupeds, including dogs, are essentially walking on tip-toes and their tarsus (or hock), is the equivalent of our ankle. It is the gastrocnemius that keeps the hock extended. So, when the CCT fails or ruptures, the hock “collapses” and sits lower towards the ground. CCT failure can be differentiated from other causes of hock collapse by the classic “clawing” of the toes, caused by increased tension in the superficial digital flexor tendon.
Case update.
Remember Ruby? She was the lovely Cockapoo that suffered a broken leg and we operated on on 22nd March.
She came in this week and, as you can see, she’s trotting around quite happily and the fractures have healed.
In veterinary orthopaedics, we tend not to remove bone plates unless they are causing a problem, even once the fractures have healed. Sometimes, the plate stops the bone from being loaded, which can cause it to waste away (this is called “stress protection”). But Ruby is not a high risk patient for this complication.
#cockapoo #cockapoopuppy #veterinary #vetorthopaedics #movement #movementvets
Sterile preparation of surgical kit. This is one for the budding techs and nurses, and anyone else who’s interested!
We use a lot of kit when we operate, and it all has to be completely sterile to prevent surgical site infections. It then has to stay sterile during transport, and when it is received by the surgeon.
We prepare some of our kits by “double wrapping” in an easy-open pattern, before sterilising in an autoclave using pressure, heat and steam. The inner wraps and outer wraps are different colours for easy identification.
Before surgery, the non-sterile assistant carefully removes the outer wrap avoiding re-contamination. The assistant can’t touch the green, and the surgeon can’t touch the blue.
Diagnosing Cruciate Failure in Dogs - Manual Tests.
For vets, students, physios and nurses wanting to hone their technique. Or for anyone else who is interested to know how we diagnose cruciate ligament failure in dogs. I've posted the full video on YouTube (https://youtu.be/ZETQyetTTRI), but in this extract, I demonstrate the tibial compression test.
This dog had previously had a "lateral suture" to address the cruciate failure, and the joint was relatively stable in extension. But the instability was marked when the knee was flexed. We also found a torn meniscus in this dog - we cleaned up the torn cartilage, and performed a TPLO. Routine stuff for us, and a good outcome expected for the dog!
Corns as a cause of lameness in dogs. Corns are like a deep callus made of keratin that form at sites of pressure. They are seen most commonly in “sight hounds” (greyhounds, whippets, lurchers etc). They can be easy to miss, as they’re not always visible at the surface. The easiest mistake to make is to rule them out because there is no pain when squeezing the toe from top to bottom (dorsopalmar for the anatomists out there). As you can see in this video, pain is most often elicited when squeezing from side to side.
