I have a friend who has a baby with hip displasia. I had never thought that it was something that affected people, too! In hindsight, I probably had it myself, although I don't remember the term being used, as I was born with my hips, knees and ankles all pointing inwards. I remember having to do endless manipulations and exercises when I was a toddler. As a result, I can pick things up really easily with my toes This friend's baby is spending most of his time in a brace contraption at the moment. So I was wondering if there's anything similar for puppies who have been diagnosed with displasia, rather than going down a surgical route?
I suppose the difference in terms of a bespoke brace during development in comparison to a human baby is just the rate of growth and development of a puppy. By the time a puppy is showing signs of discomfort (6 to 9 months) the joints are completely formed and the puppy heading towards having the body of an adult. Plus, puppies don't spend their first 6 months being quite still in a crib, I guess. There are a range of braces for dogs on the market that already have problems - particularly for dogs with ruptured cruciates. They are a con (so say my vets). They are uncomfortable for the dog, are badly designed, create all sorts of gait problems and need to be avoided at all costs. I don't know specifically about dysplasia though, but I'd be a very wary buyer unless a trusted vet was recommending it.
Strange - they used to do the hip brace thing here in Germany for babies with hip problems too. But it seems to have gone out of fashion somewhat..
This friend lives in Canada. I've never seen such a contraption before, but I don't know if that's because they're not used in Europe or because it's a rare thing for a baby to have? I suppose the level of activity and mobility is a big difference between a pup and a baby. Another question: is diagnosis of displasia done through X-ray? If so, wouldn't it be of benefit to do that as a matter of course for young pups? Or is the risk from the radiation too high?
The diagnosis is done via x-ray, yes. I think it is probably disproportionate to the risk to routinely x-ray all puppies - plus I'm not sure at what age a problem would show up on x-rays. We looked up somewhere the proportion of Labradors with significant dysplasia - it's a low percentage (but I can't quite remember what it is off the top of my head though). Interestingly, talking to Charlie's surgeon about health tests and so on (I was asking him about genetic tests for cruciate disease) and he said the traditional x-ray tests done at a year old are very flawed, and the EBV data is much more valuable in selecting healthy parents. My vet also said he was overwhelmingly seeing more Labradors with elbow rather than hip problems these days.
From my experience with elbow dysplasia an xray is often only the first step in the diagnosis and frequently has to be done with sedation to keep the dog quiet and in one position. My vet tried without sedation with Juno in February but ended having to sedate as she was becoming distressed. Depending upon the form of elbow dysplasia, a scan maybe required to confirm the diagnosis as xrays don't provide all the information. A scan would normally require a general anaesthetic. I would be reluctant to put any pup through the procedures if there was no need to. I've not seen or heard of any contraptions for dogs for elbow dysplasia and can't see how they would help for a condition where the joint is incorrectly formed.
I assume that, in the case of the baby, it's to change the form of the joint before it stops growing. I don't know, just a guess. I think elbows would always be more tricky than hips as far as a brace is concerned, simply because of the biomechanics involved. I wasn't suggesting it was a good idea, in either humans or animals, I was just wondering if it existed as a form of treatment anywhere
My son had this - he had to wear double nappies for six weeks, they said he'd have to have a brace if it got worse, thankfully it didn't and he's fine now.
I know a form of brace used to be used but remember a couple of babies of an age with my son and daughter who were put in plaster casts, or as with Mags' son a double nappy. Perhaps it depends upon the severity of the condition .....
They used to use some thing called a Pavlick harness for babies but I assume studies proved that a "double nappie" was as effective although that would be the old Terry nappies. Not sure it works the same with pampers The idea is to reposition the ball of the hip to sit better in the socket and to encourage the socket to grow better around the ball part. Dysplasia in babies is a shallow deficient socket. It is diagnosed in babies by examining the hips in a "frog" position. You can slide the ball in and out of a shallow socket but not a well formed one. I don't think you can get a dog to relax well enough to do this without an anaesthetic. The muscle arrangement I guess is a bit different. I thought xrays are taken when totally relaxed and possibly when stressed to to check movement. This is from memory. Google might say something different. A late diagnosis in humans used to mean surgery and 6 weeks minimum in plaster from waist to ankle on one side and waist to knee on the other. Called a hip spica. More recent developments mean it's possible to do it with an external metal fixation....metalwork and screws. It's my specialist subject LOL. My information is 30+ years old though.
Jacqui the sliding the ball in and out of the socket sounds a lot like what my Penny had done to diagnose her hip dysplasia. She had X-rays done using the PennHip technique which involved taking normal X-rays and then X-rays with the joint pulled out of it's socket and measuring the gap inbetween, which then gives you the severity of the dysplasia. Penny's hips come about 60% out of the socket, but I'm not sure if she was classed as moderate or severe dysplasia.
