Articles with muscle injuries

Iliopsoas Injury Symptoms: What Did Cookie’s Iliopsoas Injury Look Like

If you have a dog with a difficult, can’t put your finger on it, lameness have your vet check the iliopsoas muscle. Iliopsoas injuries can not only be hard to treat but also hard to diagnose and detect. Signs can be as subtle as a male dog no longer lifting a leg to pee. Cookie’s story After all the medical…

by Jana Rade

Facilitating Dog Injury Recovery: Cookie’s Recovery from Iliopsoas Injury—Preventing Slips with ToeGrips

Slippery surfaces are one of the most common causes of setbacks during surgery or injury recovery. Preventing slips is an important part of facilitating your dog’s recovery. You can use rugs, non-slip booties, or you can use ToeGrips. Never heard of them? Cookie’s recovery from iliopsoas injury According to her physical therapist, Cookie keeps improving steadily. Obviously, getting this over…

by Jana Rade

Physical Therapy for Iliopsoas Injuries: Cookie’s Iliopsoas Injury Treatment—Laser, Hydrotherapy and Chiropractic

Now we get to the really good stuff – laser therapy, hydrotherapy, physical therapy, and chiropractic treatments. The first step in treating iliopsoas injuries is to control pain and inflammation. This can be achieved with rest and medications but laser therapy can do amazing things both for pain and inflammation control as well as encouraging the healing process. Without reducing…

by Jana Rade

Iliopsoas Injury Recovery Medications: What We Used to Facilitate Cookie’s Iliopsoas Injury Healing

Injured iliopsoas can be a bear to treat. During the orthopedic specialist’s exam, it turned out there was more pain going on than Cookie was letting on. We already had the experience with this injury from the past. With Jasmine, it took a very long time for her iliopsoas to heal. Besides strict rest, it was important to manage pain…

by Jana Rade

Dog Iliopsoas Injury Diagnosis: Figuring out What Might Be Going on with Cookie’s Legs

Diagnosis is a process. Sometimes, figuring out the reason for your dog’s mobility issues can be quite a journey. Most of the sinister reasons why Cookie’s legs weren’t working the way they should were more or less ruled out. We were awaiting the appointment with an orthopedic specialist hoping that we’ll get some definite answer(s). Appointment with an orthopedic specialist…

by Jana Rade

Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer by day, dog health advocate, dog writer, member of the Dog Writers Association of America, and an award-winning author in my spare time. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Endless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care into my own hands. I learned the hard way that simply seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to finally get a diagnosis for her initial issue. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to use 20 years of hard-earned experience to save others from the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way, as I did.

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