By: Amy Rosenthal, My Pet’s Brace Practitioner
The Patient: Tula, a 60-pound, 11.5-year-old Labrador retriever with a CCL tear
Case of Interest: Tula is a happy-go-lucky senior Labrador whose family pursued a custom knee brace and physical therapy for her CCL injury instead of surgery. Whenever possible, we at My Pet’s Brace recommend combining physical therapy with bracing to aid in the healing process.
Tula lives with her family in Colorado. A local veterinarian took a cast of Tula’s leg, the cast was mailed to our fabrication facility in Pennsylvania and the completed stifle brace was shipped to the owner one week later.
Diagnostic History: In November 2019, Tula was having the time of her life, running in circles, stopping, and running in circles in the other direction. Then she made that fateful wrong step, yelped and began limping on her left hind leg.
Her regular veterinarian diagnosed her with a fully torn left CCL and recommended TPLO surgery. They said her only other option was crate rest.
The owner was concerned about surgery due to Tula’s age. She did her own online research and found us, My Pet’s Brace, in Pennsylvania. She purchased a casting kit from our facility and a different veterinarian used the materials to create a cast of Tula’s leg. The cast was mailed to us in Pennsylvania.
The stifle brace was fabricated and mailed to Colorado, where Tula received it on Dec 23rd, 2019 which happened to be her 12th birthday! The stifle brace controls the anterior drawer movement of the tibia. Her owner said, “As soon as I put the brace on she started walking on all fours! She knew it was helpful right away.”
Follow-Ups: Tula continued to progress with the help of her brace and began bearing more weight on her left hind leg. However, the owner was still concerned about the atrophy in her hind end.
Tula’s owner found a local canine rehab facility. Tula started with traditional ground-based therapy that focused on balance and strengthening exercises. She also did hydrotherapy, walking on a water treadmill.
She has begun weaning off the brace for local walks and potty breaks but always has it on when she goes for hikes, is in the creek, or playing with other dogs. She is now back to her normal goofy Labrador personality and is not going to be stopped any time soon! Her owner said, “The turning point was when she visibly had more muscle strength in her left hind leg/gluts. She walks comfortably and confidently in the neighborhood without her brace. Tula’s custom brace is the best decision I have made as a dog mom.”