Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Laser therapy helps dogs walk sooner after spinal surgery
By Draper, W E et al.·Published in The Journal of small animal practice·2012·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Low-level laser therapy reduces time to ambulation in dogs after hemilaminectomy: a preliminary study.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 36 dogs with severe back problems due to herniated disks underwent surgery and were then treated with low-level laser therapy to see if it helped them walk again faster. The dogs that received the laser therapy started walking again in about 3.5 days, while those that only had surgery took around 14 days to reach the same point. This suggests that combining laser treatment with surgery can significantly speed up recovery for dogs with these types of back injuries.
People also search for: dog back surgery recovery time · low-level laser therapy for dogs · herniated disk treatment in dogs
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: A prospective study to determine if low-level laser therapy and surgery for intervertebral disk herniation encourage ambulation faster than surgery alone. METHODS: Thirty-six dogs with acute paraparesis/paraplegia due to acute intervertebral disk herniation were evaluated and given a modified Frankel score. Dogs with scores 0 to 3 were included in the study. Dogs were assigned to the control group (1) or the laser treatment group (2) based on alternating order of presentation. All dogs underwent surgery for their herniated disk. Dogs in group 2 were treated postoperatively with low-level laser therapy daily for five days, or until they achieved a modified Frankel score of 4. A 5 × 200-mW 810-nm cluster array was used to deliver 25 W/cm(2) to the skin. All dogs were scored daily by the investigators using the modified Frankel scoring system. RESULTS: The time to achieve a modified Frankel score of 4 was significantly lower (P=0.0016) in the low-level laser therapy group (median 3.5 days) than the control group (median 14 days). CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Low-level laser therapy in combination with surgery decreases the time to ambulation in dogs with T3-L3 myelopathy secondary to intervertebral disk herniation.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22783835/