ARC Equine vs Shockwave Therapy - Front Branch Suspensory

[ShakeyEventing]

My boy has damage to his front suspensory branch and cannot be confined to a stable (he is terribly dangerous when on box rest) so he has been turned out as usual. It has been 5 weeks since the injury and he has been on the ARC Equine for 2 weeks.

So far I am very very pleased with the unit, when I trotted him up at the vets again last week prior to his scan he was pretty much sound, whereas the week before he was 4/10 lame.

My vet asked if I wanted shockwave treatment for the suspensory but my gut is telling me to stick with the ARC. We have now started walking in hand and in a few weeks will start walking under saddle.

I wanted your opinions really on shockwave vs ARC and any stories you may have to share.

 

[Birker2020]

My boy has damage to his front suspensory branch and cannot be confined to a stable (he is terribly dangerous when on box rest) so he has been turned out as usual. It has been 5 weeks since the injury and he has been on the ARC Equine for 2 weeks.

So far I am very very pleased with the unit, when I trotted him up at the vets again last week prior to his scan he was pretty much sound, whereas the week before he was 4/10 lame.

My vet asked if I wanted shockwave treatment for the suspensory but my gut is telling me to stick with the ARC. We have now started walking in hand and in a few weeks will start walking under saddle.

I wanted your opinions really on shockwave vs ARC and any stories you may have to share.

My horse had a lateral branch (near fore) suspensory injury and underwent a course of three shockwave treatments. After the first and third he had an ultrasound scan which showed no improvement. My physio did long wave ultrasound on his leg and he also had a course of pulsed magnetic therapy which also helped. He became sound after a few months and then 18 months or so later had a horrific accident with a wheelbarrow on the same leg. This time he had PRP and the treatment was very effective and he went onto compete for two or so years. Then in Feb this year he did his hind suspensory (this time the medial branch on the hind leg) - totally unrelated, just bad luck and incredibly common for the type of work he was in. He is now recovering, is walk trot and cantering, and doing trot poles and changes of rein/changes within the pace and leg yilelding. He is hacked abour four times per week, and schooled for one maybe two days per week. He has come on really well.

I invested in IceVibe boots and tend to put these on prior to schooling as they relax the ligaments and make them less liable to strain and wear and tear. I iced his injury for two months and initially iced repeatedly with ice cups as this made all the difference last time.

Maybe it was just my horse but he didn't appear to respond at all to the shockwave.