Written by Dr. Kim Juhlin
Mollie, is a miniature dachshund that came to see me in June of 2011. She had hurt her back and couldn’t walk. She couldn’t move her tail, urinate on her own and she had no control over her bowels either. Jeromy, her pet parent, was bereft. Mollie was his ‘little Monkey’, the love of his life. She loved to play chase and tug-of-war, and now, she was paralyzed. Mollie was only 3 years old.
I determined after examination, that Mollie had ruptured a disc in her back. This had put pressure on her spinal cord, preventing the nerve signals from the back half of her body getting to her brain and from her brain to her back legs. This kind of problem is called IVDD (Intervertebral Disc Disease). It is a common problem in Dachshund’s, Shih Tzu’s, Lhasa Apso’s, Beagles, and Cocker Spaniels. It can happen in any breed but we see it most often in Dachshund’s in our practice.
When the nerves are damaged to this extent, the current standard of care is to have surgery done as soon as possible. The surgeon removes the damaged disc material releasing the pressure on the spinal cord. There is a 96% successful outcome when surgery is performed (Davis, et.al.) compared to conservatively managed cases showed a 55% successful outcome (Levine, et. al.). I recommended that Mollie be referred to a neurologist for evaluation and probable surgery.
Financially, surgery was not an option. I made no promises, but felt pretty confident that with a combination of medications, electro-acupuncture, intensive nursing at home, rehabilitation exercises, time and love; there was a better than good chance that Mollie would walk again. I have had a good track record using this approach with similar cases.
Mollie responded rapidly to her electro-acupuncture treatments and medications. In less than a week she wagged her tail when I inserted the needle to stimulate the nerves. We all had tears of happiness in our eyes.
Within 10 days, Molllie could urinate and have normal bowel movements, wag her tail and stand when assisted. She was getting harder to keep quiet. She wanted to move! Once Mollie had her sensation back and could push herself up into a standing position with her rear legs, we stopped the acupuncture and started therapeutic laser. Why? Electro-acupuncture provided the stronger stimulation to the damaged nerves, so that the message got through to the brain, “Hey, I still have legs that need to move! Send some signals my way!” Once those circuits had re-wired, we still had healing to do. I felt that therapeutic laser would be the better tool for the next phase of Mollie’s recovery.
Therapeutic laser, is a kind of light therapy, called Photobiomodulation. That means that light waves of certain wave lengths act directly on cells to stimulate healing. The result is an increased blood circulation to the area, stimulation of the body’s own endorphins; so increases pain relief, relaxes muscle spasms, decreases swelling, stimulates new cell growth. Simply put, therapeutic laser helps the body heal itself. The body heals faster and more completely with this tool. Acupuncture has these effects also, but I find that I prefer the laser over electro-acupuncture when the nerves are firing normally again.
By mid-August, Mollie was neurologically normal. Mollie’s last laser session was August 19, 2011. I didn’t see Mollie again until October 2011, when she came for her annual wellness exam. She was 100% normal. Jeromy had continued to do rehabilitation exercises, this had retrained her nervous system. She had regained her lost muscle mass and was back to playing her favorite game of fetch with Jeromy!
Jeromy wrote this about Mollie’s Journey:
Mollie has been doing amazing. She had been back to literally full speed for almost a year now. You and your staff are without a doubt angels. If I had not found you online, I surely would have lost ‘my love’ for good because I simply couldn't afford surgery. Your methods of acupuncture therapy, therapeutic laser, as well as, the rehabilitation exercises and stretches I was taught by yourself and your staff are truly a miracle.
Because of the advanced methods and extra love I was shown by you and your staff for Mollie, my little girl is back to chasing balls and being a full blown puppy again without any physical hold backs.
I'll admit I was terrified at first, of the chances of Mollie never having the use of the back half of her body again. And the slim chances, even if I could afford surgery, her getting some, if any mobility back. But when we first met you, you had the strictest confidence that she would recover and through the methods of acupuncture and therapeutic laser therapy, we would have her back to playing and chasing, quite literally, anything I could throw in our favorite game of fetch again.
From the deepest parts of my heart, I thank you and your staff immensely for giving my girl a second chance to have full usage of her entire body again.