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INJURY TREATMENT GUIDELINES
STAGE 1 INJURIES
These range from excessive muscle tone, to severe strains with inflammation.
Excessive Muscle Tone With No Pain Response
Hand massage a minimum of 50 firm strokes, or 1 minute of light finger kneading 2x daily for 3 days, or a mechanical massager 20 firm strokes 2x daily for 3 days.
Excessive Muscle Tone With Pain Response
Treat as for above + apply heat producing liniment after each treatment.
Slight Inflammation With Pain Response
TENS treatment for 1 minute daily for 3 days using very gentle contractions only, apply heat producing liniment after each treatment.
Or Muscle Contractor (Faradic Current Stimulator) treatment consisting of 20 gentle contractions daily for 3 days, + apply heat producing liniment after each treatment.
Inflammation With Pain Response
Ultrasound treatment consisting of 2 treatments on day 1 at 1.2 watts for 3 minutes, 2 treatments on day 2 at 1.8 watts for 5 minutes, 2 treatments on day 3 at 1.8 watts for 5 minutes, then TENS or Muscle Contractor treatment as above for the next two days.
Drug Therapy For Stage 1 Injuries
On occasion the need may arise for the Greyhound to perform within 3 days of the diagnosis of a stage 1 injury, not allowing for more conventional methods of therapy to heal the injury.
In this situation the use of 1 ml of ATP (Dynacleine or Enerzyme, I prefer Enerzyme as it is far less painful to inject) combined with 0.1 ml of Adequan, and injected into 4 evenly distributed areas of the affected muscle, will get the Greyhound to the track and performing.
A word of warning, the excessive use of this method of injury treatment will cause a reduction in the muscle size, and a reduction of the muscle's ability to handle continuing strain. This type of treatment should always be followed with TENS or Muscle Contractor treatment after the race.
STAGE 2 INJURIES
These range from a small tear in a muscle sheath, to excessive separation of the muscle sheath or fascia between two muscles.
In each case the initial treatment will be to relieve any swelling, so that the full extend of the injury may be diagnosed.
If at that point in time, it is discovered that the tear or split is in excess of 2.5 centimetres for separation between muscle sheaths or in excess of 1.5 centimetres in a muscle sheath. Veterinary advice should be sought, as this amount of damage may be best treated with surgery.
Healing by fibrosis, using a sclerosing agent (5% MONO-ETHANOLAMINE OLEATE) or (3% SODIUM TETRADECYL SULPHATE).
Important! Never inject a sclerosing agent into a damaged muscle while there is still some inflammation present, as this will result in the excessive formation of scar tissue.
Using a 1 ml syringe with a 29 gauge needle inject 1/10th of 1 ml at 10 mm centres around the edge of the damage, angling the needle to place the product 5 mm below the skin.
Ice pack 3 times daily for the first 48 hours, then rest for a further 24 hours prior to starting Ultrasound treatments.
Ultrasound treatment, first daily for two days at 0.8 watts, then 2 x daily for 3 days at 1.2 watts, then further daily treatments for 3 days at 1.8 watts, rest the area a further 48 hours before starting TENS or Muscle Contractor treatments.
After each TENS or Muscle Contractor treatment the area should be massaged with LASONIL and stretched by the appropriate limb movement.
STAGE 3 INJURIES
If you are unfortunate enough for your Greyhound to suffer a torn muscle, cold pack as soon as possible to reduce the swelling and seek urgent Veterinary advice.
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