Surgery Versus Bracing for Canine CCL

The most common injury seen in dogs is a rupture of their cranial cruciate ligament (CCL)—the equivalent of a human anterior cruciate ligament injury. Whether bracing by a veterinary O&P expert should be done instead of or in addition to canine knee surgery remains a topic for debate and discussion.

Ben Blecha, CPO, founder of Hero Braces, Nebraska, notes that “orthopedic surgeons tend to regard bracing as more of a competitor, so there’s a lot of resistance from orthopedic surgeons in the veterinary field. In human medicine we do surgery and a brace and physical therapy and all these different modalities. But in vet medicine that and is changed to an or. The typical dog owner only has a set amount of financial assets to put into the animal’s care, and so they choose whether to do a brace—or surgery.”