Off the leash Are you suffering from dog-walkers’ elbow?
Struggling to control an enthusiastic pet can lead to repetitive strain injuries – and much worse, as Debora Robertson discovers
Owning a dog may be the key to a longer life, according to a new study. Our canine companions certainly increase our physical and emotional wellbeing – that’s if they don’t trip us down the stairs, dislocate our wrists or yank your arms out of their sockets first. Sometimes love hurts, and DRIS (dog-related injuries) are on the rise.
Among the most painful of these is dog-walker’s elbow (or wrist, or shoulder), a repetitive strain injury similar to tennis elbow, caused by a pulling dog. Mr Nick Ferran, consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon at The Lister Hospital in London, says: “Dog walker’s elbow is an unofficial name given to epicondylitis of the elbow. It was first described in 1981 by an American doctor who noticed the symptoms when walking his dog. The cause is thought to be from overloading the tendon attachments at the elbow from persistent repetitive gripping to control the leash.”
Food writer Julia Leonard is familiar with this. She has a five-year-old, 77lb rescue dog, whom she describes as “part-staffie, part kitchen sink”. She says, “We call Boyare ‘Yank Pullarmski’. He assumes we share his desire to eradicate the world of squirrels and cats. His eyesight is much better than ours, so the first we know is when he yanks an arm.
“I’m convinced that one arm is now several centimetres longer than the other. Our dog walker, disturbingly, has shoulder problems now and has just had an MRI. Chalk dog-walking up as another strain on the NHS.”
Novelist Veronica Henry had similar problems with her five-year-old miniature schnauzer, Zelda. “She had a cocktail of naughty habits – primarily chasing runners and bikes, which meant I then had to start putting her on a lead if we ever went anywhere that wasn’t the beach. Though she be but small, constantly pulling her back was adding strain to a shoulder that was already suffering thanks to being hunched over a laptop all day.
“Walking Zelda was supposed to be a pleasure and I was beginning to dread taking her out. I’d done a bit of puppy training with her, but probably not enough, so I booked a few sessions with a local dog trainer. It took a lot of patience and a fair bit of cheese, but eventually, she began to walk to heel, on or off the lead, and walking her became a pleasure again.”
With some dogs, pulling can become such a serious problem, it leads to them being given up for adoption. Rachel Hazley, animal behaviour coordinator at Blue Cross Animal Rehoming Centre in Burford says: “For a lot of the dogs, it’s a case of not having had any basic training from owners, not having their needs met, or simply learning that pulling gets them where they want to go.
“We see lots of dogs who pull strongly on leads, because they’re anxious – this is often a deeper issue than lack of basic training and can stem from lack of early socialisation and failure of owners to form a relationship with their dogs, so the dogs don’t feel safe outside. Owners can get very frustrated when their dog pulls strongly and are quick to revert to telling the dog off, yanking the lead or just giving up on walks, especially as
‘A dog lead that you wear across your body took all stress away from my hands’
loose-lead training takes a lot of patience.”
How can we begin to tackle dogs that pull? Dog behaviourist and trainer, Louise Glazebrook, says: “It’s important they aren’t put in situations where they can only fail, such as with a walker who takes five dogs out and allows them all to pull. I always liken it to trying to teach my young children table manners: it takes time! It doesn’t just happen on its own. Try to find a class near you that uses kind techniques, no choke collars, prong collars or sharp pulls on the neck.”
Ryan White, director of We Love Pets, a dog walking and pet-sitting company, agrees that it takes patience and calm. “We only ever walk a maximum of three well-matched dogs at a time. If your dog’s walked all week in a pack of six, they develop a pack mentality, they get too excited, and when you come to walk them at weekends, they’re frantic as soon as you get out the door. If your dog gets excited as soon as you pick up the lead, spend a few days walking around the house with the lead slung around your neck, so they don’t immediately associate lead with a walk. Praise your dog when he’s beside you, and don’t tell him off for being in front of you.
“They want your attention, good or bad, so if they get a lot of attention for being in front of you, they’ll do it.”
Some find shock-absorber lead attachments useful in minimising the impact on joints. For me, walking two dogs with different energy levels, having a lead I could wear across my body took all stress away from my hands. If you choose a harness, Glazebrook emphasises the importance of having it fitted. “There are some excellent companies that fit harnesses properly, designed to have points to attach the lead, either front-of-chest and on the back. I use the back fastening for long lines in the park, and the front one to teach lovely loose-lead walking.” She recommends hollyandlil.co.uk and fleecedogharnesses.co.uk.
What to do with the DRI symptoms? Ferran says: “In some early cases, anti-inflammatory medication may help. Physiotherapy is the best first-line treatment and in cases like dog walkers, where they may not be able to avoid the repetitive loading, a tennis-elbow splint might help.
“This is an activity splint that should not be used at rest and needs to be properly positioned to be effective. If pain is persisting despite these remedies, patients should seek medical advice and an elbow surgeon can assess and investigate as necessary to make sure nothing else sinister is going on in the elbow.”
Got all that? Ready, set, walk.