Poppy, a 6-month-old Labrador puppy, sustained a fractured radius and ulna, bones in the forelimb. These were already healing by the time we saw her. As well as healing to themselves, they also unfortunately healed to each other as well. So the two bones were now linked in a “synostosis”.
This wouldn’t have mattered if her growth had been completed, but as it was, it meant that the ulna grew too much below the synostosis and too little above the synostosis. The immediate issue was that the imbalance between the radius and the ulna was causing problems in the elbow, rendering that joint incongruent. There was the possibility that the carpus (“wrist”) would end up having similar problems.
So we removed the growth plate at the ulna's distal (bottom) end. The radius now had no bone to “argue” with. We cut through the ulna at the proximal (top) end, just below the elbow. The idea is that the triceps muscle can now pull the top fragment of the ulna back into position.
