Paralyzed East Bay Canine Successfully treated with High Intensity Laser Therapy

An 11 & 1/2 year old San Franscisco East Bay canine became paralyzed recently as she was attempting to squeeze through a closing door. Shelby, a female dachshund became weak and eventually went down, unable to use her rear legs. Her family were heartbroken as Shelby is a beloved pet who has always entertained with her antics and squirrel chasing. Seeing Shelby drag herself around was almost more than the family could take. Shelby's owners immediately took her to their local vet who sent them straight away to the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for evaluation.

At UC Davis Shelby was evaluated and diagnosed with a ruptured disc in her spine. An estimate was created for diagnosis and surgery with a guarded prognosis for recovery and the family was told to prepare for a lengthy convalescence. Shelby's estimate was in the $10,000 range. Unfortunately the estimated cost for treatment greatly exceeded the family's budget. Crestfallen, the family accepted pain and anti-inflammatory prescriptions and instructions to place Shelby under strict confinement at home.

Desperate for alternatives, Shelby's owners began searching for Alternative Medicine solutions to improve Shelby's odds of recovering. Searching the Internet, they found Veterinary Healing & Advanced Imaging, a recently opened San Francisco East Bay Veterinary Center located in Pleasant Hill, California. Shelby's "dad" called and made an appointment for Shelby to be evaluated.

Veterinary Healing & Advanced Imaging offers Computed Tomography (CT) as well as healing options including High Intensity Laser Therapy (HILT). When Shelby was examined, her condition had worsened since seen the previous day at UCDavis. When pain tested Shelby could not move her right rear leg at all and could only produce slight pull-back when her left rear foot was tested. Veterinary Healing & Advanced Imaging has Accessible, Affordable and Advanced technologies. CT was recommended to pinpoint the area of interest but her owner opted for Infrared camera imaging, which quickly identified the area of interest through heat signature in her mid-back area. 

Shelby's first High Intensity Laser treatment began on Tuesday, two days after her injury. High Intensity Laser therapy uses two modes of treatment: RIM (Rapid Inflammatory Mitigation) and NRT (Non-invasive Regenerative Therapy). The therapy modes are typically alternated, with settings in NRT different according to the tissue types (connective tissue for the protruded disc and nerve settings for the impinged nerves). Each of Shelby's sessions were approximately 25 minutes long as powerful energy in the form of infrared light was applied to the injury area.

After her second session two days after the first, Shelby began moving her right rear leg. By the third session of the week She was able to stand with support and her owners delightfully reported that she was acting her normal self and appeared to be pain-free. During her second week Shelby received three more High Intensity Laser treatments In her second week she began to walk and by the end of the second week Shelby thrilled her owners by attempting to run. Half way into Shelby's third week of treatment she was able to negotiate slick surfaces and was running with a barely perceptible limp. Her owners were thrilled and grateful they had not exercised one of the original options given them for their beloved family pet: euthanasia.

High Intensity Laser Therapy (HILT) is a unique form of laser therapy using light at a special wavelength of 1064 nanometers. Light at this wavelength is invisible but can be delivered with much more intensity than "cold" laser as 1064 nanometer light is not appreciably absorbed by water, hemoglobin and melanin (pigment). As that wavelength therapeutic light can be delivered much more deeply to affect tissues that lesser laser devices cannot reach. Shelby's rapid improvement likely occurred when her injured tissues were quickly relieved of the swelling and edema caused by her spinal injury, which allowed for fast recovery of function and early healing of tissues whose improvement often takes not weeks, but months. 

Veterinary Healing & Imaging is located at 1945 Contra Costa Blvd Suite B, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. 925-265-8385