Osteochondrosis

Massage can help OCD by

Soothing the associated pain.
Helping issues of pain referral eg: if the front left shoulder is affected the dog will often weight shift and use the front right leg and back right leg more meaning the muscles become over thickened, unsupple and inflexible making movement more difficult

Muscle spasms are a common associated issue with OCD. Massage can remove painful spasms
Massage increases blood flow to the area helping to flush away waste cartilage
Post operative OCD patients benefit greatly from massage as recovery time is speeded up through positively influencing the body`s natural healing and repair process

What is Osteochondrosis in the dog?

OCD affects the cartilage of joints and may also affect the growth plates of the bone. As the cartilage thickens rather than being absorbed naturally to strengthen the bone during growth parts of it become weak and start to break away from the bone either as a flap of cartilage or a fragment of bone also containing cartilage (osteochondral fragment)
Symptoms
Lameness in affected joint
Restricted movement
Stiffness
Lameness
Abnormal posture
Muscle wasting on affected side
Weight bearing on opposite side
Decreased muscle development

More in depth

Osteochondrosis is a developmental disease that sees the process of endochondral ossification( the formation and growth of bone via the calcification of cartilage) fail as the metaphyseal cartilage becomes over thickened. As the cartilage becomes over thickened, bone formation does not progress normally as the bone marrow cannot penetrate the cartilage and the cartilage begins to crack and break away from the bone before becoming lodged near the joint and causing pain.

When the cartilage on the bone becomes over thickened and unable to withstand normal weight bearing, rather than the old cartilage being reabsorbed into the epiphyseal growth zone, it continues to build layer upon layer. As the cartilage becomes necrotic and develops fissures, it begins to break away from the bone as a flap and will often take shards of bone with it, referred as osteochondral fragmentation. The protrusion of these flaps and fragments results in painful inflammation and can sometimes lead to secondary osteoarthritis. The offending flap is sometimes reabsorbed back into the system but quite often remains as a painful fragment, especially if it begins to ossify away from the site of the bone.

Osteochondrosis is mainly seen in large, fast growing breeds in their first two years and is typically seen in the shoulder particularly the head of the humerus, medial condyle of the humerus which forms the elbow, the condyle of the femur affecting the stifle, the tibial tarsal bone of the hock and can occur bilaterally.

There are 3 types of Osteochondrosis:

Osteochondrosis Dessicans

Occurs at the joints surface where loosely attached cartilage lies on the bone. This cartilage may crack and the flap as the flap of cartilage breaks away. If the flap settles into a position the pain will be minimal but should it move the pain and swelling will be acute.

Fragmented Coronoid Process

Affecting the dogs thoracic limb, this arises from abnormal cartilage development and abnormal length of the radius and ulna usually in the puppies first 4-6 months

Ununited Anconeal Process

The growth centre of the anconeal process fails to fuse with the ulna. The un-united process is now a piece of bone that causes joint instability leading to arthritis.

Treatment

Surgical removal of the flap of cartilage
In not so acute cases the vet may advise to leave the flap and let the body naturally break down the offending tissue.
Massage is not used directly over the area (dangerous and painful) but is rather used to flush blood into the area to encourage the body`s natural healing process.