Coffin joint to MRI or try injections first?

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Louisewere

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Hello
My mare is lame on front right and the vet has joint blocked it down to coffin joint and then went sound. So first thing suggested is to inject coffin joint let her have a few weeks off then start walking. However, whilst insurance still valid for this foot, should I just go straight ahead and organise a MRI? Vet hospital where the MRI would take place is almost 4 hours away which is a bit of a pain.
anyone have experience just injecting and not doing MRI or should I go straight for MRI?

should add that horse is 6yo. X-rays have been down and were clear.
 
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Mine was not insured, so we went straight to gel injections in both front coffins after early arthritic changes were found on x ray backed up by nerve blocks. I had been prepared to get her MRI'd first, but knowing that she was not insured my vet thought that medicating the coffins first was well worth a punt. It did pay off, as they have worked well.

That said, had she been insured, I'd have had the MRI done too.
 
Given that you've got insurance and the x-rays were clear I'd go ahead and get the MRI done. At least you know for sure what you're dealing with then. If it shows up soft tissue damage it will change the treatment plan and you can get on with doing the right thing that she needs straight away, rather than wasting time with injections and that lot if it turns out not to be what's needed. If it is that at least you have peace of mind knowing that you're right the treatment. I'm the sort of person who likes to know exactly what they're dealing with though so somebody else might say something different.
 
I would do the MRI as you have insurance, so long as it will be covered - they are expensive! I had one where we tried injections first but to little benefit so ended up with MRI anyway. This showed soft tissue damage and also foot balance issues (although these also picked up on x-ray but easier to put the picture together with MRI).
 
Im so sorry to hear about your mare! I can speak from experience of someone who had to go the injection route as we dont have an MRI anywhere close to us ...

My mare had suspected collateral ligament injury of her coffin joints and possibly some involvement/injury of the DDFT in the foot too. We had huge success treating both her front coffins with IRAP (we tried multiple steroid + HA injections that didnt help at all). My vet also gave my mare the Regenesis Vet injections to try help with the possible DDFT injury in her foot as you cant really get a needle there to treat it. My horse finally came sound after over a year of being unsound so i think it was probably a lot of things that we did that all helped. Theres a new product called A2M that could maybe help too but I havent used it myself so cant comment on it.

Hope your horse comes right!
 
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