The Horse

JUN 2017

The Horse:Your Guide To Equine Health Care provides monthly equine health care information to horse owners, breeders, veterinarians, barn/farm managers, trainer/riding instructors, and others involved in the hands-on care of the horse.

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26 TheHorse.com THE HORSE June 2017 response, without actually compromising the fibers with a real new injury," he says. Is he suggesting we want inflammation in that tendon or ligament? Actually, yes. Inflammation sends an inflow of healing products (interleukins and other blood- transported cells and proteins that initiate repair) to the damaged structure. "You want to get all the benefit of an injury without causing re-injury," says Grisel. Smith, however, takes a different ap- proach. "We do not know too much about the role of inflammation in tendon repair, but it seems that tendon suffers 'failed healing' because of the persistence of inflammation, rather than its resolution," he says. "Furthermore, more inflam- mation means more fibrosis (scarring), which we don't want in superficial digital flexor tendon injuries, although (it) may be more acceptable in injuries of other tendons and ligaments which don't need to stretch so much." Plenty of Ideas, A Few Results Scientists have had a hard time mak- ing tissue think it's re-injured. It's not for lack of trying, though. Historically, some veterinarians have used counterir- ritation (chemical blistering or thermal "pinfiring") to create external blisters on horses' (particularly racehorses') legs, to stimulate ligament and tendon healing, Grisel says. Researchers concluded pinfiring is not an effective treatment for tendon injuries. And since the 1980s veterinarians have aimed therapeutic ultrasound, light, cold lasers, infrared lasers, and magna waves at injuries that all essentially use vibra- tion to signal the body that the tissue is injured, without actually injuring it. They've sought similar therapeutic effects from acupuncture, massage, and topical Mending Tendons and Ligaments WITH LAMENESS DATA, THE RESULTS ARE Learn more at equinosis.com 1-855-4-LAMENESS (1855.452.6363) Follow us on Social Media How MUCH D I D T H E THERAPY help? Rest and Remodel Regardless of the therapy used—if any—rest has and continues to be a critical part of the treatment plan for tendon and ligament injuries, our sources say. "It often takes about 10 to 12 months for those structures to completely heal on their own, but we can get that down to six to eight months with shock wave therapy sometimes," says Bob Grisel, DVM, of the Atlanta Equine referral clinic, in Hoschton, Georgia. "During that time, rest is essential. Along with shock wave and corrective shoeing (adjusting the hoof to take the load off the injured area), rest is definitely one of the 'big guns' for healing tendons and ligaments." Jan H. Spaas, PhD, DVM, CEO at Global Stem Cell Technology (GST) NV, in Evergem, Belgium, agrees—although he likes to see a gradual increase in movement among his stem-cell-treated horses. "Stall rest in the first few days is good, but then they need to get hand-walked rather quickly and then trotted and then slowly worked up to cantered ridden work by six months," he says. "Tendons and ligaments need to be remodeled according to the work they're going to do, so if they're rested too much, they'll take on a more sedentary and less active form." Even so, veterinarians should perform regular ultrasound screenings to check for proper healing before moving on to the next activity milestone, he says.—Christa Lesté-Lasserre, MA ISABELLE ARNON Rest remains a critical part of your horse's tendon and ligament treatment plan.

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