Effy’s elbow

Effy a sweet 3-year-old border collie was referred to our Orthopaedic team in November 2022 for investigation of her right fore- limb as she was lame on it.

She was immediately taken in to see our diagnostics team to have a CT scan of both of her elbows. The results showed very mild coronoid disease (part of elbow dysplasia) in her right elbow and flexor enthesopathy in her right digital flexor tendons (this is similar to ‘Golfer’s elbow’) and is a large accumulation of bone within the tendons that move the toes.

Andy Philips one of our Specialists in Small Animal Surgery performed an arthroscopy (keyhole surgery) of her right elbow to assess the cartilage in her joint and to trim away a small amount of abnormal cartilage, as well as surgically removing some of the large abnormal bone that could irritate a local nerve.

The surgery was successful and Effy went home under strict instructions to have restricted exercise for 6 weeks, not allowed to play with other dogs, run around the house, go up/down stairs or jump on/off furniture during that time.

Since her operation Effy is doing really well and steadily enjoying life again, there may be a risk of arthritis in her elbow long term but that should be minimal. She is a happy active dog again and not in the pain she was.

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