Injuries to agility dogs are quite common
Dog running is a sport in which more than 100,000 competitions are run in Finland every year. According to a study of 850 competing dogs conducted by the University of Helsinki’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, two-thirds of the injuries occurred in connection with agility training. Most often, the dogs were injured towards the end of the exercise.
“During training, fatigue may have exposed dogs to injuries. Most of the time, their injuries were related to hurdles. The most common obstacles were pole vault, dogalk, A-frame, and tunnel. The tunnel was more likely to cause injury compared to previous international surveys, ”says the doctor Leena Inkilä From the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Helsinki.
Just under a third of obstacle-related injuries were due to a collision with an obstacle.
Forelegs prone to injury
Respondents estimate that more than half of the dogs had an injury to the forelegs, particularly the shoulder, scapula, and upper arm. The majority of agility-induced injuries were soft tissue lesions, which is in line with a previous study.
According to the study, lumbar-related lameness occurred in two-thirds of the dogs, in addition to which pain was observed in approximately half of the dogs during palpation or trajectory assessment of the joints. About 40% of the dogs received veterinary treatment for their injury.
“In general, dogs were able to return to regular physical activity about two weeks after the injury and their previous agility for about four weeks. One in ten injured dogs had to stop agility due to an injury,” says the researcher. Anna Boström From the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Helsinki.
New risk factors for agility-related injuries
The study identified potential risk factors associated with injury during one year of agility training. The most significant risk factors were identified as at least two previous agility-related injuries, lumbosacral vertebrae (LTV), training more than twice a week, and initiation of training with barriers in older age, with the risk approximately doubling for each. at the age of one year.
A reasonable number of races per month and A-frame performance technology became protective factors.
Regular physiotherapy was more common among injured dogs. The study also found indications that activity in other physically demanding species, such as traction, herding and hunting, may potentially provide protection against agility-related injuries.
“Although the study succeeded in determining the relationship between different factors and injuries, it is important to note that they do not suggest a causal relationship,” Inkilä points out.
A survey conducted by the Petbone and FaunaFysio research groups at the University of Helsinki collected data on more than 850 competitive agility dogs and their agility-related injuries during the year. Injuries related to the species have previously been studied primarily in North American agility dogs.
Article title
Part II of the Finnish Agility Dog Survey: Agility-Related Injuries and Injury Risk Factors in Competitive Agility Dogs
Article publication date
January 18, 2022
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