CBD and fractures in dogs
Ouch !!! A road accident, a fall, or an illness, a fight, or a game, the risks of breaking a bone are numerous for our dog friends. We will see together the main causes of fractures in our animals, how to treat them the best we can, and how cannabidiol (CBD) can help them to recover better.
What is a fracture ?
A fracture is a total or partial breakage of a bone. It can even happen that the same bone is broken in multiple places. This fracture may be due to various reasons, such as a shock, a poorly cushioned fall, fatigue fracture, osteoporosis, etc. The injury may be closed, or open (with tearing of the dog's skin), the bone may even have moved from its natural location, leaving fragments, or not. There is a type of fracture specific to puppies and young dogs: the green wood fracture. Because in these young animals, the skeleton is not yet as strong as in an adult cat. It is therefore more flexible, and breaks as a branch of green wood could do. Thus, the bone of the puppy or young dog will not break, but it will bend more with multiple bone tears.
Diagnosis
If you think your dog has broken a bone, go to your veterinarian as soon as possible. He will ask you several important questions, (circumstances, time of injury, location of pain, etc.), and perform a clinical examination of your dog. After this, an X-ray will confirm the diagnosis, see precisely where the bone injury is located, and will eventually allow for the collection of other important information. (Are there other injuries on the same bone, are there other broken bones, etc.).
Treatment
Once the nature of the injury is well established, the veterinarian will return the bone of the fractured dog to its normal anatomical position, manually to the surgeon. Then the injured part will be immobilized, so that the dog's bone can heal perfectly and regain its full strength. Analgesics may be offered to reduce pain. Once the bone has recovered, a period of re-education (physiotherapy for dogs) will allow the dog to regain proper mobility.
CBD and bone healing
CBD (cannabidiol) is a substance belonging to the famous cannabinoids. It is obtained from industrial hemp (Cannabis Sativa). Contrary to its cousin, the recreational cannabis rich in THC (Cannabis Indica, illegal), Sativa Cannabis contains almost no THC, less than 0.2%, then 0% in the product sold, that's why the marketing of CBD is legal. Cannabidiol (CBD) is known for its immense therapeutic potential. Here are the results of the latest research on the effects of CBD in patients with fractures.
- Scientists from the University of Jerusalem have shown in a study published in 2015, that cannabidiol improves the biomechanical healing properties in rat fractures.
- Another study also shows that the effects of cannabidiol (CBD) stimulate the enzymes responsible for the cross-linking of collagen, a protein that is very important in the construction of connective tissue.
The conclusion of these 2 studies shows that CBD (Cannabis Sativa) probably participates in the improvement of the biomechanical properties of calluses in bone fractures.