First off, I want to do a bit of anatomy explaining. Dog’s, unlike people, walk on their toes. Cool, right? So coming up from the ground, you can follow their toes to their ankle, which includes the hock bone in the back of the bend. This is their “heel” bone. The next bone, in front of the ankle, and up to the knee, is the Tibia and fibula. The tibia thrust, just like in people, is what makes up the front of our knee. There is a prominent bump in dogs, directly underneath the kneecap, that is called the Tibial Tuberosity.
In the videos attached, you will see the kneecap is a small round bone, making up the top of the dog’s knee, then the bottom bone is the tibia. The cruciate ligaments, or CCL in dogs/ACL in humans, are located between the tibia and femur bones, directly in the back of the knee. When a CCL is in tact, there should be no movement, or positive drawer sign, in the dog’s knee. See video one, where there is no movement when palpated/moved.
In the next video, you can see what happens when there is no longer a ligament holding the bones together in the back of the knee. Now, the tibia bone is able to shift forward, or tibial thrust. This is a positive drawer sign, as there is a forward movement now where the tibia is shifting forward. This is obviously bad.
If you choose to do nothing, over time this movement of the bones will potentially cause the meniscus to tear/rupture, and start to form arthritis. It is important to immobilize this joint, to prevent these issues from occurring. Not to mention, that movement is very painful.
After 9-12 months of using a Posh Brace, this movement should be back to the first image, as fibrous tissue has formed and will re-stabilize the joint. Again, check out our website, poshdogkneebrace.com, or feel free to email me any questions to: our contact form or visit us on Facebook.
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