Hyperbaric medicine - would you?

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Tickles

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After reading the tragic story about horse & handler killed in the US I looked up hyperbaric medicine... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbaric_medicine

Given that there is little evidence it is good for anything except diving (and no, let's not talk about those poor diving horses again!) what controls are there around this?

Can anyone just set up a pressure chamber and put horses in?

Any owners on here ever risked it for thier horse?

This was totally new to me so just curious, and feeling very sorry for the friends/family of those involved in the recent incident.
 
It was originally used for divers and the bends but had been shown to have good results with other conditions like Spinal cord compression and has even been used in dvt. A lot of MS people use it too :)

I haven't heard of it being used on horses but I would imagine they get very good results but would be quite expensive'
 
The girl who died was a friend of my sister and her OH :( She went to uni with them and was house-sharing with my sister's OH for a year. Very sad and horrible accident :(

I'm not really sure what hyperbaric chambers are used for though - my computer is being sooo slow today and won't open any of the links posted above - can anyone enlighten me?
 
i've been treated in a hyperbaric chamber for some motorcycle racing injuries i had.
I used it as it sped up the recovery time for some broken bones (a wrist and a femur) and enabled me to get back on the bike and racing again a lot quicker.

it probably took 40% off my recovery time.
If it is safe for humans i really can't see why it isn't safe for horses.
 
Tinsel Trouble said:
I thought it was used for long distance running training, and injury recovery in footballers.
Click to expand...

That's right, didn't Wayne Rooney have this treatment when he hurt his leg a few years ago? I don't really do football TBH..! I don't think I would use this treatment on my horses.

Horrible accident though, thoughts are with the persons family and friends.
 
it speeds up healing, quite miraculously in some cases apparently. Neville Bardos' recovery from severe smoke inhalation last summer and the fact that he got to (and went brilliantly at) Burghley are attributed to his hyperbaric treatment.
there's a very good thread about it on COTH. It sounds as if the chamber started malfunctioning and that upset the (unsedated) horse.. :( :( :(
the fact that a person who goes in one is not even allowed to retain their earrings (NO metal at all) makes it very very odd that a shod horse (albeit with wrappings round its feet, but apparently it kicked one of these off) was allowed to be treated.
another hyperbaric chamber elsewhere in the States (one with an exemplary safety record) has shut down because of what happened in Florida.
There was a fire at one in Newmarket a few years ago, the horse was badly burnt and had to be pts.
Would I use one? with a heavily sedated horse, perhaps. without, no chance.
Huge condolences to the family and friends of the poor girl killed, and to the horse's connections of course. Utterly tragic.
 
They use on at Godolphin (the place where the accident that Kerilli was talking about). They obviously think that it does have some benefits but personally I think it is not really safe enough for horses and the use of Seawalkers, Spa's, swimming pools and treadmills are probably sufficient.
 
I would put my horse in one if it was in my horses best interests as I think they are a good idea in principle from what I have read up on them, and I have watched the video clip of how the hyperbaric chamber works and what issues it resolves. However I do think things need to be looked at in terms of safety of horse and operator. I think I'd have to ensure its shoes were off first though, not sure about sedation as this could mask if the horse was showing signs of discomfort through the pressure being too high.

From what i have read of the incident I would say the following need to be looked at.

1) The chamber should be completely horse proof given that the horse is a flight animal and there should be no margin for error whatsoever. There should be wads and wads of armour proof plating on the inside of the chamber to ensure if the horse starts kicking things do not disintegrate. Covering a horses shoe with tape is not sufficient. Anyone that has ever covered a horses hoof dressing with tape when it has a poultice on will know that the horse only needs to scrape the foot against the ground for a second and the tape will be broken almost immediately. Simply removing horse shoes is not an alternative. In some cases it is not feasible to remove horses shoes as some horses will have injuries which mean that they have remedial shoes fitted, or it would be detrimental to their care to have their shoes removed. I would have thought that sufficient protection from the underlying metal would have been obvious in the manufacture of this equipment.
2) If the machine is not operating as it should be then maybe it should not be used until an engineer has been out and checked it thoroughly and given it a clean bill of health. The fact that the valves leaking were made aware to the manufacturer of the machine should have meant the machine was fixed immediately. Who knows whether operating the machine manually as the client was instructed was detrimental to the horse and caused in to strike out as it was in discomfort? The manufacturer seems to think not and the inquest appears to think not thankfully, but it does make you wonder.
3) From what I have read up on hyperbaric chambers a lot of people go to clinics to use them or have them installed in their own houses in America. Whilst this wasn't the case at KESMARC in a lot of cases people have operated laptops and other electrical equipment whilst in the chamber so a list of what should and should not take place within the chamber should be fixed to the inside of the chamber so people are aware of how dangerous these pieces of equipment can be.
4) Unsure from a laymans point of view about this point but it takes a while to bring the pressure down in the chamber. Maybe this could be looked at so if a horse does start panicking in future the chamber can be brought down to normal pressure as soon as possible, although I am not sure whether suddenly reducing the pressure could cause problems for the patient.

My thoughts go out to the families and friends of the girl killed, the owner of the horse and the survivor who I have met previously.
 
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