How to heal and avoid stable bandage rubs?

[Eventerchick]

I have a horse in on box rest bandaged up with a tendon injury, unfortunately grey clipped legs have led to already getting a bandage rub down the back of the tendon which I can't imagine will help healing.
Does anyone have any tricks to stop this happening as she needs the support of the bandage and is going to be in for quite a while longer but it is going to be hard to get it to heal now?

 

[Nailed]

Are you using fibergee? If the bandage is applied correctly over a padding there shouldnt be ANY rubbing.. To be honest, my horse wears bandaged 20 hours a day and has not signs of rubs..

In regaurds to healing, an antiseptic cream under a none adhesive pad.

Lou x

 

[Eventerchick]

yes has fibregee underneath. Had an old boot rub down the back of the leg which has made it susceptible. Thought tubigrip might help as no movement?

 

[only_me]

how about stable boots? they might help avoid the pressure on the sore

what you really need is one of the bed sore pads used by nurses, they are fantastic

 

[teddyt]

Yes, tubigrip would be worth a try. Or you could use veterinary gamgee under a bandage or soffban bandage under a stable bandage

 

[Eventerchick]

[ QUOTE ]
how about stable boots? they might help avoid the pressure on the sore

what you really need is one of the bed sore pads used by nurses, they are fantastic

[/ QUOTE ]

do you think stable boots would have enough support? that's what I've got on other good leg to stop it rubbing.
where would I get bed sore pads from?

 

[only_me]

well, my mum is a nurse so i get all her "out of date" pads (who knew pads could go out of date?!) which are very handy when dealing with sores etc.

You could try giving your local health clinic to see if they have any pads? you would have better luck trying to get hold of a district nurse though as they would have lots of them.

The boots might not have the most support, but you could use them until the sore has healed?
Or maybe a stable boot with a bandage on top?

 

[toomanyhorses26]

My horse got bandage rubs even tho I was sooooo careful and had my yo and my instructor check them but I changed to the veradus stable boots when he had a tendon injury and they were fab, easy to put on and stopped the leg from filling

 

[fatpiggy]

Generally it means the bandages were too tight, and or, not enough padding underneath. My mare had a DDF strain a few years ago and my vet complemented me on my bandaging, and told me about another case he was treating where the skin on the cannon bone had sloughed off due to overtight bandages, and caused more problems than the original injury. Alot of modern stable bandages seem very stretchy, and it is all too easy to pull them too much when you are putting them on.

 

[cob1]

My TB got rubs on his accessory carpal bone after being bandaged with a pressage after a knee operation (apparently knee is one of the hardest places to bandage - and a few vets did it completely different ways.

A locum vet suggested to use the engymycin spray (green stuff you use on thrush) on the rub - it dried it up and also is antibiotic so treats infection. It worked a treat - within a few days it had started to heal.

Obviously echo all above about bandaging technique - i went through hundreds of soffban - they are great - he had the dressing, then soffban, then an strechy bandage, then masses of cotton wool (robinson animal health one), then vetwrap. - It was the pressage that rubbed him.

 

[hpowell]

Horses have poor lymphatic drainage in the lower legs which is very dependent on movement to work efficiently, so as soon as they are kept in stables this mechanism is compromised. This in turn affects the tissues, especially the skin, making them more vulnerable. Research has shown that stable bandages stop the flow of lymph, and this may be how they appear to support legs which fill up. Unfortunately this works both ways, the drainage of the leg is also affected, this can damage tissues and may be why previously unaffected horses can develop filled legs if they have been stable bandaged and on box rest for a length of time. It is essential not to apply any more pressure than is absolutely necessary - beware of stretchy bandages which are easily overtightened - and to avoid pressure points with adequate padding, which may be a lot more than seems required, and also to ask, is bandaging really necessary in a situation? If the skin is damaged pressure must be avoided and it should only be dressed with a bland treatment, i.e. sterile gel, to encourage healing, anything stronger could do further damage, and infection should be avoided as the tissues are already compromised and more vulnerable. Manual lymph drainage, used to treat ulcers etc on human patients, is very effective on horses legs but needs to be applied by an equine (rather than human!) trained practitioner.