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A Survey of Injuries Occurring in Dogs Participating in
A G I L I T Y I N J U R Y A Survey of Injuries Occurring in Dogs Participating in Agility By I. Martin Levy, M.D., Charles B. Hall, Ph.D., Natasha Trentacosta, and Monica Percival S U R V E Y Anecdotal reports of injuries to the dog athletes that participate in agility have raised concerns over specific obstacles, course design, and training methods. Before any changes are made, it is essential to determine if these anecdotes are unfortunate, isolated events or the harbingers of a trend. To achieve this, we need to look at the population at risk (your dogs) and determine the factors that directly affect them. A survey is a useful tool for alerting us to those factors. One year ago many of you participated in our survey that asked you to report injuries that your dogs sustained while training for, or trialing in, agility. The survey was available on the Clean Run website and as hard copy in the January 2006 issue of Clean Run magazine. We requested that you report on the two years prior to the survey and that you respond even if your dogs were not injured. We received more than 1600 responses. We would like to report to you what we have learned. A majority of the responses indicated that your dogs were uninjured (67%). Of the 529 reported injuries, 58% occurred during competition. © DOGHOUSE ARTS Of the injured dogs, Border Collies, Australian Shepherds, and Shetland Sheepdogs were most commonly injured. While Border Collies accounted for 17% of the uninjured dog participants, they made up 25% of the injured population (Figures 1a and b). On the other hand, mixed-breed dogs made up 13% of the uninjured population and only 7% of the injured group. Border Collie Uninjured Dogs by Breed 1A Uninjured dogs by breed ■ ■ Mixed Breed Sheepdog ■ Shetland Golden Retriever ■ Mixed Breed Labrador Retriever ■ Golden Retriever Belgian Tervuen ■ Labrador Retriever Papillion ■ Belgian Tervuren Pembroke Welsh Corgi ■ Papillon Poodle ■ Pembroke Welsh Corgi Doberman German Shepherd ■ Poodle Jack Russell Terrier ■ Doberman Misc. ■ German Shepherd Australian Cattle Dog ■ Jack Russell Terrier Cocker Spaniel ■ Misc. Dachshund ■ Australian Cattle Dog Boxer ■ Cocker Spaniel Dalmatian ■ Dachshund English Springer Span. ■ BoxerSchnauzer Miniature Miniature Poodle ■ Dalmation Great Dane Springer Spaniel ■ English ■ Miniature Schnauzer ■ Miniature Poodle ■ Great Dane Australian BorderShepherd Collie Shetland Sheepdog Australian Shepherd Border C Injured Dogs by Breed Australi 1B injured dogs by breed Shetlan Mixed B Golden Labrado Belgian Papillion Pembro Poodle Doberm German Jack Ru Misc. Australi Cocker Dachsh Boxer Dalmati English Miniatur Miniatur Great D 71 riever German Shepherd etriever Jack Russell Terrier rvuen Misc. Hip German Shepherd Phalanges Jack Russell Terrier Australian Cattle Dog Injuries by body part -- all breeds Cocker Spaniel Welsh Corgi Dachshund Thigh ■ Shoulders Hip ■ Back Phalanges ■ StiflesNeck ■ ThighCarpus ■ Hip Metatarsus Hock ■ Phalanges Forearm ■ Neck Elbow ■ Carpus Pastern ■ Metatarsus Footpads ■ Hock Arm Leg ■ Forearm ■ ElbowTorso Dalmatian ell Terrier English Springer Span. Miniature Schnauzer Cattle DogMiniature Poodle Great Dane aniel Back Jack Russell Terrier Neck Misc. Carpus Australian Cattle Dog Misc. Australian Cattle Dog Metatarsus Cocker Spaniel Dachshund Forearm Boxer Pastern Elbow Dalmatian Boxer Cocker Spaniel 2A Injuries By body partStifles - All breeds Hock Boxer hepherd Shoulders German Shepherd d ringer Span. Schnauzer Poodle e Chest Dachshund ■ ■ ■ Arm Miniature Poodle ■ Leg Leg Great ■ Dane Torso Torso ■ Chest Chest Head ■ Head Side ■ Side ■ Teeth/Mouth Teeth/Mouth Patella ■ Patella Eye ■ Eye Tail ■ Tail Dalmatian Pastern Footpads English Springer Span. Footpads MiniatureArm Schnauzer English Springer Span. Miniature Schnauzer Miniature Poodle Great Dane Shoulders Shoulders Head Shoulders Shoulders Shoulders Phalanges Carpus Carpus Thigh Phalanges Stifles Patella Forearm Stifles Hock Forearm Thigh Phalanges Phalanges Elbow Thigh Chest Thigh Thigh Forearm Chest Shoulders Footpads Forearm Hip Footpads Back Neck Side Neck Stifles Hock Metatarsus Forearm Shoulders Footpads Back Stifles Hock Phalanges Elbow Arm Phalanges Elbow by body part -- border collies Injuries by body part -- border collies y part -- Australian Injuries shepherd Injuries by body part -- Australian shepherd Injuries by body part -- Australian shepherd Injuries by body part -- Shetland sheepdog Back2c Back Side Backpart Back 2b Injuries By body Injuries By body part 2d Injuries By Back body part Hip Hip Teeth/Mouth Stifles Stifles Carpus Border Collie Shetland Sheepdog Australian Shepherd an shepherd Eye Tail Injuries by body part -- Shetland sheepdog Footpads Forearm Neck Thigh Head Chest Pastern Footpads Teeth/Mouth Neck Hock Hock Patella Elbow Elbow Torso Soft tissue injuries (sprains, strains, and contusions) were the predominant injury type. In general, the shoulders and backs of your dogs (20% and 18% of all injuries respectively) were most commonly injured as shown in Figure 2a. The stifle (12%), hip (6%), carpus (6%) and phalanges (6%) were injured less frequently. The three most commonly injured breeds varied in their injury patterns. Border Collies injured their shoulders (15% of their injuries) and backs (13%) most frequently but also injured their hip (10%), carpus (9%), stifle (9%), phalanges (8%), and thigh (7%) as seen in Figure 2b. A large portion of the injuries that Shetland Sheepdogs sustained were to their shoulders (24% of their injuries) and back (17%) as shown in Figure 2c while Australian Shepherds injured their shoulders (26% of their injuries), back (21%), and stifle joint (19%) with nearly equal frequency as seen in Figure 2d. Dogs were more frequently injured by contact. Contact with an obstacle was only slightly more frequent than contact with the ground. Slips were the predominant cause of non-contact injuries but overuse injuries were reported frequently as well. Metatarsus Carpus Arm Thigh NeckHock HeadElbow Pastern Forearm Teeth/Mouth Hip HockSide Patella Stifles Elbow Phalanges TorsoFootpads Footpads Metatarsus Arm Neck Pastern Chest Leg Teeth/Mouth The A-frame, bar jump, and dogwalk injured Metatarsus the This survey was a necessary first step; it validated our Arm shoulders and backs of your dogs most frequentlyNeck as observations, indicating that these were not isolated shown in Figures 3a through 3d. Twenty seven percent Pastern events but represented trends. And the next step? Chest of all injuries on the A-frame and 17% of all injuries from The next step is to ask specific questions about these Leg the bar jump were to the shoulder. The phalanges (13%) trends. Teeth/Mouth and metatarsus (10%) were injured on the A-frame less • We need to validate this data prospectively. than half as often as the shoulder. Twenty three percent • Trials need to be evaluated separately from training of all injuries on the dogwalk and 17% of all injuries on and the variability in training techniques needs to be the A-frame were to the back. Your dogs’ thighs were the considered. third most commonly injured body part on the bar jump • A simple method for reporting conformation needs to and dogwalk (12% and 9% respectively). Injuries to the be developed and its influence on injury evaluated. carpus (8%), stifle (8%), and neck (7%) were also seen frequently on the bar jump. • The apparent increase in injury over what was expected by exposure in the Border Collie needs to So what did we learn? Many of your dogs participated be verified and explained. without injury. Border Collies, Shetland Sheepdogs, and Australian Shepherds were injured most frequently. • The variations in equipment and venue need to be Border Collies, however, were injured more often than considered. would be expected from their exposure. Dogs were • Finally, we need to prospectively determine the injury injured slightly more often in competition. The A-frame rate for this sport. and dogwalk were responsible for nearly half the By establishing a precise rate we can measure the effect reported injuries. Importantly, almost half the injuries of any change. This way, while we are making every effort on the A-frame were to the shoulder and back while to decrease the injury rate, we will be able to tell if, in one-quarter of the injuries attributed to this obstacle fact, we are making it worse. D were injuries to the phalanges and metatarsus. Martin Levy is Chief of Sports Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, as well as the Residency Director in the Department of Orthopaedics. His areas of research interest have included human knee and ligament biomechanics and the epidemiology of injuries on artificial surfaces in American football. Marty’s current field of interest is in the epidemiology of injuries to dogs and handlers in canine agility. He has been involved in agility for the past six years. Charles B. Hall and Natasha Trentacosta are from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York. Monica Percival is editor of Clean Run. 72 Clean Run | February 07 Thigh Elbow Injuries by obstacle Arm 3A Injuries By Obstacle A Frame Injured Body Parts From the authors of the in Focus book, Shoulders, Elbow, and Back a new DVD Forearm video ■ A-frame Shoulders A-Frame ■ Dogwalk Dog Walk ■ Bar Jump Back Bar Jump ■ Weave Poles Weave Poles ■ Seesaw Phalanges Seesaw ■ Tire Jump Tire Jump Metatarsus ■ OpenOpen Tunnel Tunnel Closed Tunnel ■ Closed Tunnel Carpus Spread Jump ■ Spread jump Table Stifles ■ Table Broad Jump ■ Broad Jump Panel Jump Neck ■ Panel Jump Back and Hip Do you... Side Leg Have a dog that would walk over hot coals to get to agility equipment, but can’t be bothered to take direction from you on course? Shoulders Have a dog that Injured is so obsessed Bar Jump Body Partswith agility that doing obstacles is the only rewardBack he wants? Dogwalk Injured Body Parts Pastern Back Shoulders Unspecified Thigh 3B Dogwalk Injured Body Parts Torso Footpads Carpus Have a dog that happily completes Thigh obstacles (even a whole course) on his own without any direction from you? Carpus Have a dog that blasts off the start line, often before you Stifles give him a release command? Hip Hip Hock HockStifles Neck Have a dog that lacks self-control? then you need to get in Focus and get your dog “in the game” with you. Forearm ThighShoulders Neck Unspecified ■ Shoulders A Frame Injured Body Parts Chest Elbow ■ Back Back Elbow ■ Stifles Phalanges Arm Phalanges ■ Thigh Unspecified ■ Hip Shoulders, Elbow, Shoulders andand Chest Metatarsus BackHip■ Phalanges Arm Forearm Forearm Hock Carpus ■ Neck Patella ■ Hip Carpus BackStifles and Side ■ Metatarsus Leg and Back SideNeck ■ Hock 3C A-FRAME Injured Body parts Head ■ Forearm Tail Leg Pastern ■ Elbow ■ Pastern Unspecified ■ Footpads Footpads ■ Arm Shoulders Hip ■ Leg Bar Jump Injured Body Parts ■ Torso Back Hock ■ Chest ■ Head Thigh Thigh ■ Side Carpus Elbow ■ Patella ■ Eye Stifles Arm ■ Tail Neck ■ Unspecified Shoulders, Elbow, and 3D Bar JUMP Injured Body Parts Back ■ Shoulders, Elbow, February 07 | Clean Run Carpus Metatarsus Hock Forearm Elbow Pastern Footpads Arm Pastern Chest Phalanges Side Head Patella Metatarsus Tail Torso Head Teeth/Mouth Eye Unspecified Shoulders, E Shoulders, B Leg Shoulders Back Leg and bac Eye Stifles Thigh Hip Phalanges Neck Carpus Metatarsus Elbow Forearm Pastern Footpads Arm Leg Torso Pastern Chest Phalanges Side HeadShoulders Patella Metatarsus Back Tail Chest Phalanges Neck Shoulders a ■ and Shoulders and Arm Back Hip Shoulders, Thigh Back, and Leg HockCarpus Hip Leg Chest Hock Bar Jump Injured Body Parts Stifles Thigh Hip Shoulders, Back, and Leg Hock Unspecified Forearm and Back Chest Forearm ■ Shoulders, Back, Side and Leg Hip Leg ■ Leg and Back Shoulders Back Head Teeth/Mouth Eye ® www.cleanrun.com Unspecified Shoulders Back Shoulders, StiflesElbow, and Back Thigh Shoulders and Chest Hip 73
