ADVANCING THE FIELD THROUGH RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

 

Paladin™ – a novel solution to a common disease

 Placing a tarsal orthosis to treat the most common orthopedic problem in dogs – the cranial cruciate disease of the stifle – may confuse many people but there is a significant clinical background to justify this intervention as well as a solid biomechanical rationale. 

 

Stabilizing the stifle by correcting muscle imbalances

 We have recently found solid evidence for what we have presumed was the main reason for the success of Crama’s treatment – reduction of the muscle force exerted on the stifle by gastrocnemius muscles. In vitro experiments conducted in collaboration with Virginia Tech professors Otto Lanz and Noelle Muro at the Kyon facility and with the support of the Kyon team in Boston simulated the main muscle groups acting on the cadaver hind limb. Reducing the ratio of the gastrocnemius to the hamstrings force stabilized the stifle under simulated gait forces even with a transected cranial cruciate.

Maintaining the tarsus in extension shortens the working length of the gastrocnemius muscle group and thus the force that they can generate when innervated. To counterbalance the force of the quads in controlling the moment around the stifle in gait, dogs will learn to favor hamstrings over gastrocnemius muscles.

 

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