Why are dogs plagued with hind end weakness? That is a question that has plagued me since veterinary college. When I first started studying Chinese medicine, I thought I had my answer: “They are all suffering from Kidney deficiency!” since lower limb weakness including knee pain is a major symptom of that condition in people. While some dogs do respond to pure Kidney tonics, most do not. This article will discuss what is really going on, both in biomedical and Chinese medical terms, with the weak limping dog.
The first thing to know is that these dogs are essentially suffering from strangulation of either the blood or nerve supply to the hind limbs, sometimes both. In Chinese medical terms, you’re probably thinking, “Ah, then it’s a Stasis issue, probably of Blood”. That’s closer to the mark, but pure Blood movers only help a slim minority of these dogs. It’s the location and cause of the Stasis that finally leads to effective treatment.
Take the standard dog weak in the hind end that has not responded to a pure Kidney tonic like Eucommia and Rehmannia. Where’s the strangulation happening? Often in the spinal cord, rather than the legs themselves.
Dog spines commonly experience a buildup of stiff connective tissue that goes by various names – spondylosis deformans and spinal stenosis, for example. As the spine becomes progressively more rigid, and as the stiff spinal ligaments start to tug on the periosteum of the vertebrae, bone builds up that can lead to nerve pinching. The thing about nerves is that if you even lightly touch one, you weaken the muscle they supply by 50%.
For these dogs, then, restoring spinal flexibility is required, making Spine Lithe an obvious choice. Spine Lithe is a variation of Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang (Pubescent Angelica and Loranthus Combination) which has as its main effect in dogs the tonification of Blood and Yin, and the expulsion of Wind Cold from the Tai Yang surface (or dorsum). So the cause of strangulation in Chinese medical terms for these dogs is the Stasis that invading Wind Cold creates. The body responds to the improved blood supply by reducing connective tissue stiffness and proliferation, allowing the spinal column to move more freely, taking the squeeze off the nerves that run through it. As pressure is taken off the nerves, the dog becomes stronger again. Chiropractic treatment can greatly expedite improvement in these dogs.
What about the dog suffering from cruciate tears and hip dysplasia – in short, osteoarthritis of the knee and hip. Usually, the strangulation comes from Stasis within the Gall Bladder channel, which runs through these joints. Ordinary Blood moving formulas usually don’t help, because most do not target the Gall Bladder channel. The only formula that really does is Minor Bupleurum, but the ancients never described the formula as useful in mobility issues. Add some Large Leaf Gentian root to Minor Bupleurum, though, and you end up with Benefit Hips and Knees - a formula with unparalleled efficacy in relieving pain and inflammation in dogs with cruciate tears and hip dysplasia. A common diagnosis mistaken for a cruciate tear is sacro-iliac joint inflammation and vertebral fixation, but no matter – Benefit Hips and Knees treats that, too!
How does Benefit Hips and Knees work in biomedical terms? Besides being an anti-inflammatory, it counters Endothelial Dysfunction. This is the cause in western terms of the strangulated yet leaky blood supply to arthritic joints that leaves them chronically prone to inflammation, yet slowly degenerating. The same problem exists in many human arthritic joints as well. Benefit Hips and Knees helps restore a normal blood supply to the ligaments of the hip and knee joints that ends up resolving inflammation, relieving a lot of pain, and restoring stability. The results are often seen very quickly.
Sometimes to heal torn cruciate ligaments we add in Blood movers like Quick River; and often we eventually add in Blood tonics like Liver Support Formula, Eucommia & Rehmannia, or even Spine Lithe. This creates a three-pronged protocol that:
- Carves new paths of circulation through the ligament
- Limits the amount of inflammation that occurs if the tender new ligament is strained
- Stops those vessels from leaking
- Increases the amount of blood flowing through the vessels
It can often take six months to heal a partially torn cruciate ligament in this way, but the bonus is that it is far cheaper than surgery, and more importantly, you’re healing the ligament on the other side that is likewise usually on its way to being torn. So you save yourself the cost of two surgeries rather than one.
Now all this may be news to a lot of veterinarians, who are invariably taught that cruciate ligaments can’t heal because of a poor blood supply, but then again, they are doing nothing to improve that blood supply. The typical protocol of NSAIDs and processed dog food continues to make the blood supply even worse, resulting in osteoarthritis setting in within a couple of weeks of using the drugs and continuing those feeding practices. If, though, you use instead Benefit Hips and Knees, and change the diet to a fresh food diet (e.g., commercial raw, commercially cooked, or home cooked), then the improvements start immediately in any dog that is still able to bear at least some weight on the affected leg.
Besides herbs and a fresh food diet (which are important for spinal dogs, too), two other things owners can seek out to help their osteoarthritic dogs are:
- Chiropractors which can relieve nerve root impingement to ensure the injured leg has as much muscle power as possible, to use in stabilizing the injured joint
- Exercise, because the cure for Stasis is motion!
Motion should be controlled in the newly torn ligament, but as the dog heals, it’s important for the dog to move progressively more freely, so the ligament can adapt to all the lines of tension the dog could impose upon it. This strengthening process is called the Remodeling Phase of ligament repair, and is attended by periodic aggravation of the lameness, followed in a few days to a week by recovery. Using Quick River can help minimize how lame a dog gets during the remodeling process.
So there you have it. A recipe for turning back the clock in your weak or lame dogs and restoring them to full power. Few things are more gratifying in practice than precipitating genuine and permanent healing. May you come to know that pleasure for yourself!