Walking your dog on a rainy day Beware of "athlete-style" bone injuries

70-year-old uncle knee anterior cruciate ligament tear, 50-year-old aunt ankle fracture, 60-year-old uncle arm distal radius fracture... This year, there was a lot of rain in Shanghai in winter, and the Orthopedic Department of Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital successively treated a number of middle-aged and elderly people who suffered "athlete-style" bone injuries, and the causes of injuries were surprisingly consistent - walking dogs.

When Mr. Zhang Lao, 70, came to the outpatient clinic of Li Guodong, director of the Department of Orthopedics of Shanghai Tenth Hospital, three days had passed since the injury to his left knee, and the injury was still painful and swollen, and he had to walk barely under the support of his family. X-rays of the knee showed no fractures or fractures, and magnetic resonance imaging revealed the crux of the problem – a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee. Usually, cruciate ligament tears in the knee mainly occur in football players, but Mr. Zhang usually has very little physical activity, let alone playing football, and it turns out that the dog is too excited when walking the dog is the culprit.

It rained for several days, Mr. Zhang did not walk his dog, and he waited for the sunny day after the cold air transit, and he hurried to take his dog out for activities. In the house for several days, the dog was particularly excited, especially when he encountered the same kind, he was even more excited, and suddenly jumped towards the left front, the large dog had great strength, the leash with the old man involuntarily to the left of a toe, the left leg took a big step to the left front, that is, this step was accompanied by severe knee pain. Fortunately, the damaged ligaments were repaired through arthroscopic minimally invasive surgery.

Aunt Chen's dog Teddy is much smaller, but small pet dogs are flexible and should be more careful when walking their dogs. That day, Aunt Chen led Teddy to the door of the building, the little guy frolicked with a Pomeranian dog in the next unit, did not expect to play the atmosphere is not right, it seems to be really moving, the next mouth began to be light and heavy. As soon as Aunt Chen saw that the situation had changed, she immediately ran over to protect her pet, and as a result, when she went down the steps, she sat on the ground with her right foot.

After returning home, after a long time of cold compresses, the right ankle was still red, swollen and painful, and he immediately came to the orthopedic emergency department of the Tenth Hospital, and the X-ray image showed a fracture of the right ankle joint. Because the fracture line involves the joint and there is osteoporosis, in order to ensure accurate reduction and restore the flat surface of the joint, Aunt Chen underwent ankle fracture internal fixation surgery.

Li Guodong said that since the beginning of winter, his team alone has treated a number of patients with bone injuries caused by walking dogs, and the situation of Mr. Zhang Lao and Aunt Chen is the most typical. In addition, there are also fractures of the distal radius of the upper limb due to slipping and falling on a rainy day. "The elderly walking the dog is actually not small exercise intensity, it is recommended that you can first move your hands and feet, warm up", Director Li stressed, especially in the winter temperature is low, the human blood circulation is slow, coupled with thick clothes, pants, shoes and socks, limb joint activity is not very flexible, once in the process of walking the dog suddenly jumped out, the human body was suddenly pulled, it is easy to overextend the joints, sprains, ligament tears, and even lead to falls. It is recommended to do a good job of head, neck, torso and limbs stretching and warming exercises before walking the dog, and at the same time choose loose and warm clothing to avoid wearing too tight clothing, so as not to aggravate the restriction of joint movement. (Zuo Yan/Sheng Xing)

Source: Xinmin Evening News