Dog World Article – Published 5th February 2010
Of all the therapies that are available for the dog, massage is probably one of the most misunderstood. It has become burdened with misconceptions that can prevent its benefits from being really appreciated or understood. As a complementary therapy, it is both totally compatible with both Veterinary science and other therapies.
Massage is one of the effective treatments for muscular dysfunction from injury or muscular issues consequent from other conditions. If massage is correctly applied, it can have a major positive impact on a dog’s mobility improving quality of life or considerably easing pain perception resulting from muscular problems.
To understand the issues of muscular problems, it is important to have a concept of how muscles work.
How do muscles work?
Individual muscle fibres (the basic component of a muscle, many make up a single muscle) operate on a sliding filament arrangement to provide movement within the joints. In other words, they glide over each other to formulate a contraction, shortening within the overall muscle length. As they draw closer together the effect is of the muscle looking bulky. When the fibres ‘relax’, they glide apart creating a lengthened and thinner looking muscle. Both these actions are controlled by dedicated nerves and chemicals that manage how much movement and strength is conducted through that muscle. This system is highly sensitive to change or dysfunction.
Muscles that provide movement through the limbs generally work in pairs, so when one muscle contracts over a joint, the muscle on the other side of the moving joint relaxes allowing the joint to flex and extend within its full range. When all muscles contract and relax effectively without any interruption this is called co-ordination.
Muscles are also vital for stability of the body as a whole; without good muscle tone stabilising our skeletons, movement would be unsustainable and the body would be susceptible to injury. Muscles have a major role in stabilising joints, both vertebral joints and those of the limbs, also maintaining a sound connection between all the limbs and the main body of the dog. This role involves other soft tissue connections such the tendons that attach the muscles to the bone and ligaments that attach bone to bone.
Therefore, muscles are required for sustainable movement by converting the joints of the skeleton into levers and by stabilising the same frame by maintaining a framework of stability. When both these functions work uninterrupted, it leads to a dog that is robust, strong and with less likelihood of injury.
What causes muscle damage?
There are many causes of muscle damage. Injury is one but probably the most underestimated are compensation problems. This is when the body changes the way it moves to cover pain. It transfers weight to another area of the body, subsequently over-stressing these areas. These secondary stresses can continue to criss-cross over the body until the source is so hidden that it is difficult to know where a problem starts and finishes!
Another of the other major compensatory causes is from other underlying mobility conditions. Examples of common causes are osteo-arthritis, hip or elbow dysplasia, or many other situations where the condition is treated but the compensatory and extremely painful ensuing compensatory muscular effects are not.
Environmental or repetitive strain issues; for instance, a dog continually jumping down from a car or stairs, excessively chasing a ball or Frisbee, exercised inappropriately, over-trained or just over-exerting when their muscles are cold. This type of injury is gradual and insidious. It creeps up on the dog without any clear pointers, then one day they can become intermittently lame or stiff with no obvious cause.
What happens when muscles are damaged?
Typically when a muscle has been damaged through an injury or compensatory effects, the fibres of that muscle heal by forming what can be described as a ‘knot’. This is a highly effective method of securing the damage but the problem is that the ‘healed’ area that is then incapable of full movement because those sliding filaments have been compromised therefore that section of muscle now not fully functional. The type and magnitude of the injury will depend on how much of the muscle has been effected.
The other typical repair is for the muscle to form an adhesion, to basically ‘stick’ itself onto its adjacent structure in an attempt regain its strength and security through the anchorage.
In all of these situations, the muscles that have shortened or function differently from their original role create inappropriate tensions over joints both those of the limbs and the vertebrae.
How can you tell if your dog has muscle problems?
Pain perception as a result of a muscular problem can be huge. It can give the impression something being catastrophic. Often muscular issues will be masked as the symptoms can be inconsistent and difficult to correlate. Lameness is obvious but less obvious indicators are stiffness generally after rest that eases off with exercise, a change in behaviour, lack of drive to play or participate, premature aging or a change of body shape such as a larger neck or front end assembly. All these can indicate an underlying muscular problem.
The main problems are recognising that muscle as well as joint health are required for efficient function and the assessment of muscular problems is difficult and requires specialist training.
How does massage work?
In brief, massage works by primarily creating an environment within the body, or a specific area, that will instigate the body’s natural healing mechanisms. It can and does become involved with all the body’s systems hence its holistic nature. This is achieved by two main methods of application, ‘mechanical’ and ‘reflexive’. Mechanical techniques work on the movement created by the practitioner directly on the affected muscles, and by doing this the muscles are being gently manipulated to create a change within. The aim is to primarily influence the blood flow within the congested area, to create a situation where arterial blood can ‘wash’ the damaged area creating a healing situation.
Reflexive techniques are basically those that indirectly influence another system or area. One of the most recognised is removing stress both physiologically (how the body works) and psychologically (how the body thinks). This is done by easing pain perception, through removing muscle tension, this in turn stimulates pain suppressing hormones that can take a dog from a perpetual stressed state to a relaxed state this helps to regain internal balance and the body can function more effectively and therefore heal.
There are so many ways that massage can positively influence muscle health: helping to repair injury, managing compensatory issues, aid spatial awareness, preparing the body for activity, helping to re-balance and stabilise a dog and assisting most mobility problems. These are just some of many ways that massage or Myotherapy can help. Some of these areas will be covered in more detail in future articles.
NOTE: it is illegal for anyone to treat another dog other than their own without veterinary consent or referral, without this the practitioner will be breaking the law and as a handler you could also be breaking the law under the 2007 Animal Welfare Act.
If you would like some treatment for your dog, ensure that the practitioner is properly trained, is part of an ‘accountable’ professional body and that they are fully insured.