Sherman Goes For Laser Therapy

As promised I wanted to share our experience so far with Sherman’s laser treatment on his torn cruciate.

Sherman’s first treatment was on March 13th and he just had his second treatment last Friday.

He is scheduled to have 5 treatments total every 10-14 days apart and we will see how things stand from there.

The yellow sign on the door behind Sherman says, “Please turn off cell phones.” shhhh….don’t tell them I used it to take a picture!

Sherman is going to Dancing Paws Wellness Center in Richfield Ohio and his vet is Dr. Sivula.  Dancing Paws is a “holistically minded practice that specializes in acupuncture, chiropractic care, nutritional counseling, rehabilitation and other natural therapies.”

Our first appointment was about 1/2 hour long and included an exam and consultation with Dr. Sivula about what my expectations were for the laser therapy on Sherman. We talked about getting Sherman off of pain medications, further rehabilitation and nutrition.

Then Dr.Sivula performed the laser treatment on both of Sherman’s knees. He explained that the only side effect that Sherman might experience with the treatment was a little bit of tiredness because the laser treatment releases endorphins.  I would say Sherman was mildly tired after his appointment but I’m not sure if that was because he was mentally exhausted from his visit or if it was from the treatment.

We also left the treatment with a new supplement called Tendon/Ligament Formula.

Seriously that’s the name.

It’s a supplement that contains a whole bunch of Chinese herbs that I sprinkle on Sherman’s food twice a day.

Here’s a quick rundown of where we started and where we are today.

Here’s where we started:

December 17th. Sherman ruptured his right cruciate ligament and we did strict rest for 6 weeks. In that time Sherman went from non-weight bearing on his right rear leg, to a toe tipping limp to a mild intermittent limp, usually after walks, chasing sheep, going up or down stairs and getting up from laying down. We had Sherman on Carprofen and Tramadol every day for 4 weeks and then we started to wean him off the Tramadol. After week 6 we began to wean him off of the Carprofen and used it only as needed.

After week 6 of strict rest we began to implement walks again. First very short walks, only a few houses, and then gradually increased.

Week 11 we began laser treatment.

Here’s where we are now:

No more Carprofen or Tramaol. I don’t think I have given this in well over a month. We are using Dasaquin and the Tendon/Ligament supplement only.

Back to normal walks and there’s no limp and he plants his foot like he did before the cruciate rupture, no toe-tipping  I really watched him on our walk the other day and I was so happy to see his foot plant firmly on the ground between steps. I have also seen some muscle mass increase in his back legs, which was started to concern me last month.

The only thing I see is a very mild limp on his first few steps when he gets up from a long nap.

Where we hope to go from here:

Sherman has 3 more laser treatments set up for right now.

He has gained a few extra pounds due to lack of exercise and I am really concerned about that so from here we will work on getting him back to his ideal weight through moderate exercise.

Dr. Sivula and I have talked about additional rehabilitation such as hydrotherapy to assist in the weight loss and the muscle loss. My plan is to implement this using our pool in the summer but if that doesn’t work we will just do it at Dancing Paws.

Overall, we still have a way to go but I couldn’t be happier with Sherman’s progress at this point and my experience at a holistic vet has been wonderful and a great addition to Sherman’s healthcare.

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