# Sprain or Pinched Nerve??



## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

About 3 months ago, Shelby and Khan were playing. During the raucous Shelby hurt her leg. Not sure if Khan stepped on her or what; but she came up limping. Anyway, it wasn't broken; but I took her to a vet (not my normal one) Saturday morning, and they gave her Metacam. She had a horrible reaction, and had to have IV therapy because her kidney levels were off the charts! We treated her leg as a sprain, and she was on injured reserve for a few weeks.
So fast forward to the last month or so. Every so often she will move really fast and let out this god awful scream. She ends up limping for a while, then she goes back to completely normal. I had our vet look at her in mid November, and he said that her shoulder area was extremely bound up; but that she had good movement in her leg. We are not chancing any NSAID, so he gave her a steroid shot and off we went. So last night, same thing. She had been playing with the ball, and all was fine, then all of a sudden she just lets out a scream! She was obviously in pain because she went and laid down, and was done. This morning however, she's back to bouncing around and trying to get Khan to chase her. 
I stopped by the vet and asked that he call me tonight. When he called I explained all this, and said it comes almost as quickly as it goes. He's going to take an xray tomorrow of her shoulder area since the last one was only of her leg. He thinks there may be something like a pinched nerve, which is causing her problems only when she moves a certain way. Which would explain the coming and going quickly. 
I've never experience anything like this (human or canine) I know that a lot of people have back/shoulder problems and am just wondering if this is what you as a human experience with this type of problem?


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

I've had a pinched nerve in my back before, and from that human experience, it was NOT just coming and going quickly, it was a constant feeling. It wasn't constantly painful, but it was always tense and if I moved much at all, it would be painful. However that was my back, not my leg or shoulder, and the back kind of works with every movement we do, so it may have been worse than if it were in one of my joints.

I hope they can find what is causing shelby such pain! Fingers crossed it's nothing serious, and something easily treatable


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## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

hmbutler said:


> I've had a pinched nerve in my back before, and from that human experience, it was NOT just coming and going quickly, it was a constant feeling. It wasn't constantly painful, but it was always tense and if I moved much at all, it would be painful. However that was my back, not my leg or shoulder, and the back kind of works with every movement we do, so it may have been worse than if it were in one of my joints.
> 
> I hope they can find what is causing shelby such pain! Fingers crossed it's nothing serious, and something easily treatable


Well, I guess I'm just "Assuming" it's coming and going! Maybe it is something she's been feeling constantly! That makes me feel terrible if that's the case. Poor thing having pain for the last 3 months! These are the times I really wish they could talk to us and tell us what's wrong!!


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

Khan said:


> Well, I guess I'm just "Assuming" it's coming and going! Maybe it is something she's been feeling constantly! That makes me feel terrible if that's the case. Poor thing having pain for the last 3 months! These are the times I really wish they could talk to us and tell us what's wrong!!



Haha sorry didn't mean to put that idea into your head! I just mean, as a human, a pinched nerve was definitely very painful (and eventually went away with advice from the chiropractor - though how do you tell a dog to sleep a certain way so they don't pull it again? haha). Dogs are very proud, but if she was in real pain all the time, she would have let you know. I'm sure it's just the pinch she feels when she twists or turns the wrong way! but even so, hopefully it's easily fixable!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

My dog has intermittent pain in his ankle. He'll be fine one minute, can't walk the next. And he's fine two minutes later. X-rays show nothing, no inflammation or arthritis etc etc etc. And sometimes it's on the OTHER ankle.

It drives me crazy. He's had x-rays of legs, shoulder, spine, on his back, side, upside down and sideways. Nothing shows up. Right now their only recommendation is to x-ray again in a few months and see if something shows up then.

So good luck. I hope the x-rays show something that is fixable. 

I'm not a vet so i really have no idea what I'm talking about, but when Snorkels had a pinched nerve in her neck it sure wasn't intermittent. It was horrible pain and it didn't go away until she got knocked out.


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

xellil said:


> My dog has intermittent pain in his ankle. He'll be fine one minute, can't walk the next. And he's fine two minutes later. X-rays show nothing, no inflammation or arthritis etc etc etc. And sometimes it's on the OTHER ankle.


haha sounds like he's putting it on... perhaps he has learnt that sympathy earns him special treatment? lol. It's like my cat... she will decide out of no where that one of her eyes is sore, and she will sit there with it closed or almost closed (just the one) but will let you touch it. But then it's like she forgets, and she's fine, then I say something to her and quickly she closes one eye again (sometimes the wrong eye) haha she's just searching for sympathy, I know it! There is nothing wrong with your eye Nala!! lol


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

hmbutler said:


> haha sounds like he's putting it on... perhaps he has learnt that sympathy earns him special treatment? lol. It's like my cat... she will decide out of no where that one of her eyes is sore, and she will sit there with it closed or almost closed (just the one) but will let you touch it. But then it's like she forgets, and she's fine, then I say something to her and quickly she closes one eye again (sometimes the wrong eye) haha she's just searching for sympathy, I know it! There is nothing wrong with your eye Nala!! lol


Man, your cat is smart! That is too funny. We don't give them enough credit for brains sometimes.

And I never thought of that. The vet thought it could be because there was something going on with his spine, but I never thought of a dog faking an injury!

My aunt had a dog who would stand outside the sliding glass door and shiver away like he was freezing, hoping to get someone to let him inside. Even when it was 105 degrees outside. hilarious.


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

Sometimes when we are playing ball Duncan does some random limping. He doesn't yelp or anything, but it seems like he will do something while running and hurt his back leg or hip somewhere. Whenever that happens we stop playing...and he's back to normal in just a few minutes it seems. Other then those times it never happens.

When I was pregnant I had bad syatic (sp?) nerve pain. Those pains would be sharp and shooting and would only happen if I stepped a certain way. It was horrible. If I didn't step that way I would have no pain, but if I did....holy crap it hurt.

I hope it's nothing. Keep us posted. :smile:


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