Usually, the recommendation is surgery.
Have you looked at the pros and cons to this?
Here’s the PRO: the affected leg gets immediate stability.
Here are the list of CONS (which also help explain what happened and why):
- It certainly costs a lot!
- 80% of dogs who get one ACL fixed get the other ACL fixed within the next two years.
- There’s no reduction in arthritis in the leg that gets operated on.
- And of course, anytime their surgery there can always be complications.
So why do 80% of dogs need to have the other leg operated on within the next two years? Because all the surgery does is operate on the affected knee. He doesn’t actually address the root of the problem.
The problem begins in the pelvis. Dogs are rear wheel drive cars. Monster trucks even. When they go from 0 to 60 in 1.8 seconds they propel their body forward with incredible force from the back end. And if that back-end isn’t 100% straight, that push off leads to a twisted pelvis.
Without chiropractic care- that pelvis doesn’t get lined back up. So then the dog is walking around with a twisted rear end. Effectively, this means one leg is longer than the other.
So he pushes off really fast chasing a squirrel one too many times and boom. Tears the ACL.
Gets surgery. Still has a crooked rear end.
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And now he favors the leg that had surgery so the other leg does lots of extra work. And ultimately that leg breaks down and the second ACL tears. Surgery number two.
That’s the conventional system.
Of course, you don’t have to take your beloved baby to surgery. You could do physical rehabilitation and chiropractic care. The body can balance itself. It just needs the tools.
Chiropractic lines up the pelvis. Basically- it’s your car’s rear wheel alignment.
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If your pup has run into an ACL tear themselves recently and you have decided to avoid surgery- maybe you are looking for an alternative, I am here to help. I am trained in pet chiropractic. In addition to the chiropractic work I provide- I will share rehab exercises for you to follow at home with your pup to help build that rear-end!
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Still seeing patients in Tampa, Clearwater, and virtually.