Plexiglas splint for front limb paralysis

[♥ DIY ♥]

Source Front limb paralysis.

[Tobemeghan]

It has been a week since Rhett suffered from his FCE and I would say that he is about 85% recovered! The first couple of days put of his front lets were paralyzed and then it was just one front leg. I didn't have the $$$ to take him to physical therapy (and I don't think that there is even a facility in my area, I live very rurally) so I worked with him everyday. He was every weak and even his back legs couldn't support him. I made him a shirt of sorts that allowed me to support his body weight while he stood to regain his strength. At first I wasn't to hopeful as he couldn't even sit up on his own without falling over. We kept working though and he got a lot stronger. The main problem was his left right ankle/foot which he limp and he couldn't use it. The foot still had feeling though so my brother (who is a jack of all trades) made him a brace by heating and molding plexy glass to Rhett's lower leg, added straps and padding and it was all good! Rhett was still to weak to walk even with the brace to keep his ankle from giving out but with his body weight supported he could hobble around pretty good, brother got plans off line and was going to make him a quad cart but around 5 day Rhett made such of a 180* that we decided that he didn't need a cart after all. He was actually running around on three legs but still trying to use his front leg that didn't want to work. By day 6 he was actually USING his bad front leg and he could move the ankle use it some. Today he is using all of his legs including the bad one and is running around so much that I had to keep the chickens up or I am afraid he will catch them! His balance still needs some work, he keeps trying to mark stuff outside and falls over, but he is improving so much that I don't think it will be very long at all and he will be at 100%!

[critters]

It SURE would be nice if you or your brother could write up how he made the splint, preferably with pictures. The last time we needed a custom splint I had a devil of a time and spent a TON of money. I'd wanted to reuse thermoplastic from human splints, but it was impossible to get a supply. I've never heard of using something else, but it makes a lot of sense.

[Tobemeghan]

It SURE would be nice if you or your brother could write up how he made the splint, preferably with pictures. The last time we needed a custom splint I had a devil of a time and spent a TON of money. I'd wanted to reuse thermoplastic from human splints, but it was impossible to get a supply. I've never heard of using something else, but it makes a lot of sense.

(please excuse the mud and grass stuck to it, we've been having rain)



Here it is without the padding. He used 1/4" Plexiglass and a little torch propane torch heat it (he said a heating gun would have worked better if you have access to one). First thing we did was find a piece of PVC pipe that was as close as the same diameter as Rhett's leg with some padding on it. Cut the Plexi to the length you want it, heat it and bend it around half of the pipe (use gloves, it gets really hot! It also takes a while to get it hot enough to work with and it cools quickly). Compare it to your dogs leg and where it is going to need to bend. Each place that it is going to need to bend he heated each side and used pliers to collapse the plastic outward and then pressed it so they so it was smooth (he said to make sure that the plastic is pulled out and not in so there won't be a bump on the inside (see last picture)). He used "16 fast set" which is a cement for acrylic (plexiglass, etc) to make sure all of the joints were solid/firm. He said that it is probably not necessary but just extra insurance. We use nylon strapping and self adhesive velcro to make the scraps, attached them with hot glue (note: the plexi is so smooth that glue doesn't have to adhere to it, we use a file to rough up the surface a bit). It took quite a few test runs (putting it on Rhett and seeing how he could stand in it) and reheating to get the angles right. As for padding I wrapped his leg in ace bandage and put a pad in the heal of it so it would fit better, I was planning to make something more permanent to he quickly didn't need it so I didn't have a chance. My brother makes backgrounds for terrariums and to make them he uses a none expanding spray foam. We were planning to use the same for the padding. We were going to put a medium level of foam over it, let it dry to the place where it has a thick skin on it but is still pliable then wrap his leg in a light layer of ace and put his leg into the brace and allowing it to make an impression so that it would dry and be a good fit.

I hope this helps, if you have any questions please let me know.

Good luck!
Tobey

[critters]

GREAT idea!!!