Front leg proximal suspensory injury

NB1221

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My 5 year old horse has had a nerve block in her front leg for this today and went sound when this was done. She is booked in for a scan on Thursday to look at the damage.

Does anyone have any ideas on the success rate or roughly how long it will be before she will be back in work or what level of work she will be able to do in the future?
 
My 5 year old horse has had a nerve block in her front leg for this today and went sound when this was done. She is booked in for a scan on Thursday to look at the damage.

Does anyone have any ideas on the success rate or roughly how long it will be before she will be back in work or what level of work she will be able to do in the future?


Inside branch of the suspensory, above the fetlock?
Mine was six months turned away, came back into full work and went show jumping, passing a full sales vetting with no comment. It was big and hot for a while, but came back to normal.She was seven.
 
ycbm- I thought that the proximal suspensory ligament was higher up the leg behind the knee and ended above the fetlocks, but i stand to be corrected if I am wrong? The branches are much lower, as you stated they spread across the fetlock, medial and lateral (inside and outside).

OP Can I ask, has your vet diagnosed PSD or was the injury to the PS an external injury? If it is PSD then this is a good link to Proximinal Supsensory information :https://www.horsejournals.com/suspensory-ligament-injuries-advances-diagnosis-and-treatment.

Ice is the first point of call, ice cups, ice packs, ice vibe, cold hosing, cold tubbing. Repeat as often as possible.Cold therapy slows down blood flow to an injury, and reduces inflammation and reduces pain. It can be used if the area is inflammed.

My horse slightly sprained his suspensory branch (three times on three different legs) so my experience is this:

LW ultrasound might be beneficial, and shock wave (although it did nothing for my horse) and PRP Platelet rich plasma (was extremely effective with my horse) are other treatment options.

This is off a website about ultrasound:

One of the greatest proposed benefits of ultrasound therapy is that it is thought to reduce the healing time of certain soft tissue injuries.

Ultrasound is thought to accelerate the normal resolution time of the inflammatory process by attracting more mast cells to the site of injury. This may cause an increase in blood flow which can be beneficial in the sub-acute phase of tissue injury. Ultrasound may also stimulate the production of more collagen which is the main protein component in soft tissue such as tendons and ligaments. Hence ultrasound may accelerate the the proliferative phase of tissue healing. It is thought to improve the extensibility of mature collagen and so can have a positive effect to on fibrous scar tissue which may form after an injury.
 
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Yes proximal is higher up, OP we have only had a branch injury generating a non-defined hole, a very fat leg and minimal lameness only really observed the day after schooling. Horse (insured) had PRP and 6 months of box rest with in hand walks only and was then slowly brought back into work and is hacking and doing some schooling (although she didn't do any circles for quite a long time, partly as we have no school). She is 16 now and as my Mum's mare and given they were never great at it I think the decision has been made not to risk her jumping again.
 
Mines had two branch injuries about 3 - 4 years apart, not connected in anyway, different legs and is currently nursing a third. Its a very common injury apparently.

First two injuries treated, horse went back to jumping/dressage each time but first injury compounded by accident on yard which incurred another six months of work and then went back to jumping for about 2.5 years before incurring the present branch injury. All three very minimal damage, think the term was a grade 1 i.e no tear of fibres, slight sprain of ligament.

Never had a horse with a proximal suspensory injury.
 
OK, I thought that might not be it, hence the ?. I was confusing proximal with medial, doh! Got no experience with psd in a front leg, sorry :( I hope she comes right for you OP.
 
Yes my old boy has PSD in front leg but it was a while ago now (6years) so I am not sure I can remember all the details. Shockwave and rest - think about 3 months? Vets said better prognosis in front leg than hinds. Came back (slowly) to jumping 1m sjing tracks before retiring 2 years later (he was 18 when it happened and had a relatively hard life as a 2* eventer pre-me) so don't despair :)
 
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