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Tplo Recovery Time

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labraiser

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hello

I was wondering how many months after tplo surgery before you could resume full training in most peoples experence with this? My physical rehab person is talking about 5-6 months total including the rest period right after the surgery. So for my girl it's been 2 months rest and now it's 4 months of rehab. Does this sound correct?
 
#2 ·
labraiser said:
Hello

I was wondering how many months after tplo surgery before you could resume full training in most peoples experence with this? My physical rehab person is talking about 5-6 months total including the rest period right after the surgery. So for my girl it's been 2 months rest and now it's 4 months of rehab. Does this sound correct?
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That's pretty conservative, most dogs are ready for light training and conditioning 4 months post op
 
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#3 ·
4 months total here in Texas,,,

But we do things different here...

I will never, ever do what was recommended to me in PA... put my bitch behind,, big time.

Angie
 
#4 ·
Mine was ready for light training at 4 months! I did the re-hab myself, and it was intensive, lots of controlled swimming in a re-hab pool. She musceled up real good and now is years post op with no uneffected knee conpramise.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
I thought that was a little long too ,Her one leg is 34cm cir and he good leg is 42 cm cir. The rehab person said that is big difference in muscle mass, I told her i was going to start training in 2-3 months reguardless, she was a little put off by me making deadline. oh well!
 
#6 ·
labraiser said:
I thought that was a little long too ,Her one leg is 34cm cir and he good leg is 42 cm cir. The rehab person said that is big difference in muscle mass, I told her i was going to start training in 2-3 months reguardless, she was a little put off by me making deadline. oh well!
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Maybe she forgot who was paying the bill, sometimes that happens..
 
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#9 ·
labraiser said:
Does anyone have any rehab instructions they used? Could you please contact me for my email if you can help.

Thanks
scott
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I can email you a link if youd like. It was sent to me for review. Im not recommending it only because I had already started rehab with someone else but you may be able to take something from it or draw comparisons. Pm your address if interested
I elected to have TTA 16 days ago on my Golden
 
#10 ·
Do you have access to a rehab facility with a pool? We were told we could swim our dog 4 weeks after surgery. It is a great way to start to re condition without putting strain on the knee. It made a huge difference in our rehab. She had surgery on both knees, one in the time of year she could swim, one in the winter. The winter one took longer and part of the reason I am sure was because she couldn't get in the water.

I would think by 4 months post op, the dog should be strong enough to start "working" again, but don't over do. Start slow and build on that.
 
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#11 ·
Maxs Mom said:
Do you have access to a rehab facility with a pool? We were told we could swim our dog 4 weeks after surgery. It is a great way to start to re condition without putting strain on the knee. It made a huge difference in our rehab. She had surgery on both knees, one in the time of year she could swim, one in the winter. The winter one took longer and part of the reason I am sure was because she couldn't get in the water.

I would think by 4 months post op, the dog should be strong enough to start "working" again, but don't over do. Start slow and build on that.
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Swimming is one of the main keys in my opinion. At first it was inflamation control and get them moving with support.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Had my dogs TPLO done at UGA, they did not want swimming right away due to the fact that although swimming is low impact exercise it is also a non-weight bearing movement where the dog tends to whip the leg out behind them and possibly stress the joint. We used the underwater treadmill for the full rehab period and swimming in the last three weeks. 4 months was dead on.
 
#13 ·
Swimming is useless until the limb is full weight bearing. Swimming is more stressful than walking and if they are not fully weight bearing while walking they will simply not use the limb and swim with the other 3.

Until the osteotomy is healed (+\- 8 Weeks) extreme activity should be avoided.

PM me your e-mail and I will send you a protocol for home rehab.
 
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#14 · (Edited)
Missy had her 2nd TPLO the first couple days of last May. The doc had me give her crate rest for the first 2 weeks. After that he removed her staples and said I could start walking her on lead and swimming her for short distances.

I took her to a rehab vet a couple days after her staple removal. She examined the dog and had her in the underwater treadmill for 10 minutes and gave me some excercises to do. I went back for underwater treadmill sessions twice a week for a couple of weeks and then once a week thereafter. The rehab vet had me walk on lead/swim the dog for 10 minutes the first week of rehab and then increase the daily swimming/walking 5 minutes a week thereafter. The rehab vet didn't differentiate between swimming the dog and walking the dog on lead. It was 10 minutes of one or the other or a combination of both.

The rehab period was 6 weeks. 10 minute swim/walks the first week. 15 minutes swim/walk the 2nd week. 20 minute swim/walks the 3rd week, 25 the 4th week, 30 the 5th week and 35 the last week. From the 3rd week on I took her to the rehab vet once a week for a look see and an underwater treadmill session. This was a much more aggressive rehab than her first TPLO rehab. The last week of rehab I took her to a park with 4 soccer fields joining each other with no fence inbetween. I'd walk her for 15 minutes on lead to get there, give her 5-10 minutes of off lead time while I still walked so she was going in a direction and another 10 minutes walk back to the truck twice or 3 times. She loved her off lead time on a big field as it was the first off lead time she'd had in almost 2 months.

I took her in for x-rays 8 weeks post op and the surgeon said I could put her back in training. The rehab vet said the same thing the next day.

I put her in training with the other dogs and she was fine. I did train her every other day and we took another day or two off, but mostly we just trained as normal. She got a rimadyl at least once maybe twice after I put her in training but just the once or twice not every day or anything.

At 10 weeks post op I took her to a Lardy training seminar for 4 days, her first days training every day instead of every other day. She won an open and a 2nd in the am at 11 weeks post op.
 
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#18 ·
Scott, I tried to send you a PM but couldn't since I don't have enough posts. We've met up at Stewart with HHHRA. My dog Maddie had surgery last January for a torn CCL. (TTA ) she did post op rehab in the tank every week until 4 months. I then swam her in a pond and she came up lame. Torn miniscus- took her to VOSM in Md for a second surgery and have had her in rehab and home therapy for the last six months. Dog is doing much better now and on her way to running tests again this spring. Send me a PM with your contact info and we can talk or get my number from Kim.

Good luck - Jim
 
#19 ·
jebco said:
Scott, I tried to send you a PM but couldn't since I don't have enough posts. We've met up at Stewart with HHHRA. My dog Maddie had surgery last January for a torn CCL. (TTA ) she did post op rehab in the tank every week until 4 months. I then swam her in a pond and she came up lame. Torn miniscus- took her to VOSM in Md for a second surgery and have had her in rehab and home therapy for the last six months. Dog is doing much better now and on her way to running tests again this spring. Send me a PM with your contact info and we can talk or get my number from Kim.

Good luck - Jim
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Jim,,, you're vet didn't scope before they did the surgery to check for a meniscus tear?

Just curious,,,

Angie
 
#20 · (Edited)
Just want to share what I did with my dog after my dog's right knee TPLO June 10, 2010.

1st and 2nd week were either inside his cage or on the leash. some walking around the yard

3rd and 4th week, short and slow walks with leash gradually increasing distance paying attention to limping. (If so, rest, decreasing distant, and slowdown walk) By the end of 4th week, we have walk around my neighborhood which is a mile. airing by himself with no other dogs.

5th to 9th week. we increase pace around my neighborhood (paying attention to any limping, if so, slowdown and/or decrease distance). On my dogs 9th week check up, my ortho vet was suprised with my dogs improvement and said that he could go back to training in 4 weeks with 2 weeks limited training to build up his stamina

9th to 15th week, we continued walking fast pace. I think we cut our time (2nd week to 15th week) from 45 min to 20 min mile walk. Free roam aound my 2 1/2 acre yard with my other dog. I also lost some pounds while I was doing this with my dog everyday, rain or shine :).

After the 15th week, I gave him back to Cherylon. With my Ortho vets vague instructions and Dr Eds guidance, Cherylon continued with a limited training program for another two weeks to gradually increase his stamina. Knock on wood, he is back in full training since Oct.

(2nd post, have to change the number of weeks after checking my vets bills and notes.) :)
 
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