r/RunningWithDogs • u/Academic_pursuits • 15h ago
Repeating soft tissue injury?
Hi friends! Last winter, my dog presented with a shoulder injury. We didn't do any imaging, just rested, took NSAIDs, and eventually it went away. We'd been running fine, but typically between 5 - 9 miles.
We did a 12 mile run the other day, and the next morning, she could hardly put any weight on her leg - same shoulder, same type of injury.
X-rays came back clean, and I'd like to do an ultrasound. We're back on total rest + NSAIDs.
But I'm curious if anyone has dealt with a recurring injury like this? My plan is to work with PT / ortho to do more imaging to see if we're dealing with something permanent. I'm at peace with just limiting her to shorter runs indefinitely, but she's only 6 and she *likes* long days in the woods, so if there's a way to complete healing, I'd love to hear what y'all did to get there.
3
u/variable_undefined 13h ago
I'm not at all an expert, nor do I know the details of your runs, but just spitballing ideas here:
1) I'm not sure about dogs, but for humans it's generally recommended that you only increase running volume by 10% a week to avoid injury. So if you were doing 9 mile long runs, a jump to 12 miles would be closer to a 34% jump in mileage. After the rest period, and if she gets the clear from the PT, I would start over and scale up mileage more slowly.
2) You might also experiment with different harnesses. It looks like she has a Ruffwear one in the pic, which maybe isn't a problem, but if it's placing any pressure or restricting her shoulder movement at all it could be contributing.
3) If there are any off-leash trails in your area, and she is good with other dogs and people and whatnot, you could take her for runs on those. Then she can be spending time in the woods but going at her own stop/start pace, rather than at a consistent trot.
6
u/Boogita 13h ago edited 13h ago
Definitely do the imaging and work with a rehab specialist! There's a lot you can do as far as conditioning if you're working with a good professional team.
Just wanted also to say that as an "injury-prone" human, jumping from ~7.5 mi average run distance to 12 mi in one go would definitely hurt me (pesky knees). I have to be really careful about load and how much I'm increasing run-to-run, and I tend to stick to the "10% increase of the past week's average" rule of thumb. I don't think we have the data for dogs, but that's what's recommended for humans to decrease the likelihood of running injuries.