Arthramid for use in a knee problem

[HandH]

My vet has mentioned Arthramid as one of the possibilities for medicating my horses knee.She is 12yrs old cob having passed a 5 stage vetting last Oct but since introducing some schooling and groundwork she is showing some discomfort in her near fore on left rein rather than just lack of suppleness as we originally suspected as she had previously just been used for hacking although I dont know her full history.It was considered during a Chiropractic vet check that she is 1/10 lame with a slightly twisted action with that leg and also that her medial heel is slightly longer than the lateral heel on that foot.My vet has now done a lameness evaluation done with foot balance xrays and foot nerve block to near fore which showed no improvement .On examination he found a change to inside of the knee and on xray thinks bony changes in that joint is probably causing her to use that leg differently and hence alter the balance of foot rather than other way round.He chose not to nerve block knee at this stage but obviously will to confirm should we go down an injection route.She has just had a 2 week bute trial which hasnt made any difference and I'm sure she has had this action for a long time due to original conformation or previous injury and I suspect her preferred way of going carrying her head to outside on left rein is now habitual and may well be difficult to even help with rehab exercises to address her crookedness assuming we can control any discomfort first. I have researched through the forum and have read no negative posts re use Arthramid but found no mention of it being used in a knee so would be interested in any experiences of people have had.

 

[Lovely jubbly]

My horse had this done last week to both coffin joints came highly recommended by my vet as having great results...a bit early for me to say if it’s worked yet as still on box rest. They reckon it can be done in any joint.

 

[birdof1977]

I have just booked my 9 year old pony in for an Arthramid injection to his fetlock for next week.
He was diagnosed in March with what the vets think are pre-arthritic changes to the proximal sesamoid bone in his left fore fetlock, he was only 2/10 lame in hard ground in a circle (right rein) when I took him to RVC, but in the month prior to this while waiting for our referall was 3/10 s on circle on right rein on soft, and in a straight line on hard.

Nerve blocks to low and high 4 point and joint block to fetlock showed positive results on the lameness detector.
Scans and xrays showed changes to the sesamoid.

Initial treatment was to inject the fetlock with steroid to see if it made much difference, which it did, and I was told to bring horse back into full work quickly (6 week plan) to see if the injection would work.

I was warned at the time that the steroid would probably wear off quickly due to the nature of the joint (high use) and that might not last more than 3 months, it lasted 2/12, and pony is now lame again. My vet advised that if/when the steroid wore off, a more viable choice would be the Arthramid injection, although it is a lot more expensive than the steroid, it should last a lot longer.
She wanted to use the steroid first to make sure that using the Arthramid would work before wasting money. She said that if the steroid made a difference, the Arthramid would work too.
My pony felt so different to ride while the steroid was working, it was great.
So fingers crossed for the Arthramid having the same, but longer lasting effect. ?

I would be interested to hear if others have success with the Arthramid on the front fetlock joint.

 

[Goldenstar]

Arthramid has been used extensively for fetlock in racing .
It also be my go to for a knee issue knees are tricky to deal with.

 

[Birker2020]

Sorry I have no experience of it in the knee, but my horse had Athramid in her coffin joints approx 6 weeks ago and to start with it seemed very positive and she was noticeably different when she turned coming out of her stable and just her generally walking in hand but then suddenly she started to go a little unsound, and then early one Sunday morning when I went to get her in from the field she was practically hopping on 3 legs so I called the emergency vet who reckoned it was an abscess which she partly drained. When she was no better following four days of poulticing I asked for the foot to be xrayed as I was concerned about a fracture/laminitis such was her lameness.

The xray revealed huge arthritic changes to the navicular bone and in particular a spur on the back which we believe the DDFT was catching on. We felt that we would give it one last shot and have the shoe put back on to see if it made any difference as we hoped the height of the shoe might have helped, but it didn't, and as she more and more lame (and eventually even lame on mud/grass) the decision was made to sadly pts which happened last Tuesday after being made as comfy as possible with large doses of bute.

My theory (a friend also shares this view) is that due to the Arthramid treatment she felt comfier in her coffin joints and started to transfer her weight onto her navicular bone, which put huge stress on an already compromised navicular (we hadn't known it was compromised at the time - if we had we wouldn't have gone ahead with treatment). Xrays should have been taken of the foot prior to the Arthramid to determine the extent of arthritis in the rest of the foot bones, but to be fair to the vet, he was trying to keep costs down for me.

I have heard Arthramid is very effective on a huge range of horses but before any treatment with an animal in future, I will insist that x-rays are taken to gain the whole picture. It sounds from your description that your horse is over compensating. Hopefully you will get a better picture if you go down the nerve block route. I hope you have better luck than me.