Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Recovery of walking in small dogs after disk injury without surgery
By Khan, Sam et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2024·Department of Veterinary Medicine, United Kingdom·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 We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above.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: Recovery of ambulation in small, nonbrachycephalic dogs after conservative management of acute thoracolumbar disk extrusion.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 72 small dogs that had lost the ability to walk due to a herniated disk in their spine were treated without surgery. Most of the dogs that could still feel pain in their legs (96%) regained their ability to walk within about 11 days, while those that couldn't feel pain (48%) took longer, averaging about 25 days. Interestingly, the recovery of walking didn't seem to depend on whether the spinal cord compression improved. This suggests that many dogs can recover from this condition with conservative management, even if the underlying compression doesn't fully resolve.
People also search for: dog back injury treatment · non-surgical recovery for dog disk herniation · why is my dog not walking after back injury
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Currently, low-level evidence suggests loss of ambulation associated with acute thoracolumbar disk extrusion is best treated by decompressive spinal surgery. Conservative management can be successful, but the proportion of dogs that recover and the fate of herniated material are uncertain. OBJECTIVES: Determine the proportion of nonambulatory dogs with conservatively treated acute thoracolumbar disk extrusion that recover ambulation and measure the change in spinal cord compression during the first 12 weeks after presentation. ANIMALS: Seventy-two client-owned nonambulatory dogs with acute thoracolumbar intervertebral disk extrusion. METHODS: This is a prospective cohort study. Enrolled dogs underwent magnetic resonance imaging at presentation and owners were provided with conservative management recommendations. Imaging was repeated after 12 weeks. Recovery of ambulation was defined as 10 consecutive steps without falling. Spinal cord compression was determined from the cross-sectional area of the vertebral canal and extradural compressive material at the lesion epicenter. The association between recovery and change in compression over the 12-week observational period was examined. RESULTS: Forty-nine of fifty-one (96%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 87%-99%) of deep pain-positive and 10/21 (48%; 95% CI, 28%-68%) of deep pain-negative dogs recovered ambulation within the 12-week period. The median time to ambulation was 11 and 25 days for deep pain-positive and -negative dogs, respectively. Reduction in spinal cord compression varied among individuals from minimal to complete and apparently was unrelated to the recovery of ambulation. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: A high proportion of conservatively treated dogs recovered ambulation after conservative management of acute thoracolumbar disk herniation. Recovery was not dependent on the resolution of compression.
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/39051966/