Ice vibe boots

Birker2020

Birker2020

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Are there any professionals out there that rate these boots?

Just debating whether to buy a pair for my horses medial suspensory branch injury.

Are they worth the money?

thanks
 
Is it true you can use them with heat aswell as cold? I'm toying with a pair of hocks for my lady with hock spavin but obviously cold wouldn't be too beneficial for her.
 
Yup instead of putting the gel pouches in the freezer you put them in the kettle to heat them up. We used the hock ones on a horse with the worst hocks on the planet - between them and joint injections if kept him racing and jumping for 2 years (an unrelated accident prevented us from seeing if they helped for longer) He wore the boots for an hour before work and for a couple of hours in the afternoon and it was noticeable if he worked without having them on first.
 
EKW said:
Yup instead of putting the gel pouches in the freezer you put them in the kettle to heat them up. We used the hock ones on a horse with the worst hocks on the planet - between them and joint injections if kept him racing and jumping for 2 years (an unrelated accident prevented us from seeing if they helped for longer) He wore the boots for an hour before work and for a couple of hours in the afternoon and it was noticeable if he worked without having them on first.
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Wow. I think I'm genuinely sold on them! Do the hocks come in pairs or single boots? That's exactly what I'm after. She just starts off stiff til she warms up and finds the cold difficult.

Sorry OP, hijacked your thread somewhat!
 
Hi Applecart.....I noticed that you first posted about your horse's injury on 22nd Feb, when it had already been diagnosed by a vet, so presumably incurred a couple of days beforehand. As this is 3.5 - 4 weeks ago am interested as to why you are still looking at treating the injury with ice? For an injury this old would you not be thinking of laser or ultrasound by now? Would like to understand the vets thinking on this. Thanks.
 
I don't know about the boots but for cold water therapy to have any real affect the water must be less than 4 degrees. Most tap water eg via a hose is nowhere near close to that. If you can try an equine spa. Although as Gunnerdog says 3-4 weeks after the injury probably isn't going to be much help as cold treatments really do need to start immediately. On the plus side its always useful to have something in the tack box that you can apply to legs after any strenuous exercise.
 
gunnergundog said:
Hi Applecart.....I noticed that you first posted about your horse's injury on 22nd Feb, when it had already been diagnosed by a vet, so presumably incurred a couple of days beforehand. As this is 3.5 - 4 weeks ago am interested as to why you are still looking at treating the injury with ice? For an injury this old would you not be thinking of laser or ultrasound by now? Would like to understand the vets thinking on this. Thanks.
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this quotation from this link: http://www.vetsonline.com/publicati...uries-in-horsesa-a-treatment-and-healing.html

" The author also recommends the continued use of cold therapy after each exercise session during the ensuing controlled exercise programme."

I asked my physio this very question last night and she suggested leaving off the ice cups (I did stop last week) and just keep on with the ice boots after exercise which is part of his controlled exercise programme. The vet says that I can ultrasound if I wish to but he feels that the outcome will be exactly the same as doesn't feel it will be beneficial as its such a slight sprain. I am not insured any longer either. Laser will not be beneficial to this type of injury as it wasn't of any benefit to his near fore suspensory injury which he had in May 2011 and which he has recovered fully from.

As Kauto Star1 says I've never really put much faith in cold hosing as its not a consistent temperature and in summer the water can often be warm when it comes out of the hose pipe. That's why ice cups are such a fantastic idea, as to are ice boots.

Thinking about a spa when I can finance it, just trying to catch up with my finances at the moment as been out of work for a month in between temp contracts, and although now working for past fortnight I am considering taking a perm job I have been offered, but which is four weeks in hand.

So at the moment, unfortunately without insurance, I really am battling this out of my own empty pockets!

The cold treatment was started the following day and every day since, with both cold hosing initially (despite what I've said!) with ice cupping and ice booting. Then after seeing the vet bandaging on his advice to alleviate swelling, and give support to both hind legs.
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As you can see from this information below, this is usually the timescale for tendon injury repair (depending on the severity and location of the injury) so you can see why its important to keep cold therapy up for as long as possible. As Bailey's is such a minimal injury and is only the branch affected the vet doesn't think it will take anywhere near this time. At the end of the day, it will take as long as it takes.
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Nature's Role

Injury prompts a cascade of distinct processes. The first is inflammation, the body's protective response, lasting three to four weeks. Increased blood flow associated with inflammation prompts the body's first-aid team--cellular and biochemical processes that stimulate tissue regeneration.

The next stage, beginning about a week after the injury, overlapping the inflammatory stage and lasting about three weeks, is marked by angiogenesis. In this process the body builds new capillaries to enable water and chemical exchange between blood and surrounding tissues. Tendons and ligaments typically have a relatively poor blood supply. However, Gillis says, with injury the number and size of vessels triples in tendons and ligaments. Scaffolding also forms for fibroblasts (cells that form connective tissues) to accumulate and build new tissue.

In the third stage, stretching from about Weeks 4 to 16, type III collagen--a type of structural protein--fibrils form as part of the healing response. Many fibrils then aggregate and link together to form collagen fibers, then fascicles. Several fascicles ultimately form new tendon or ligament.

In the final phase, 16 to 32 weeks into the healing process, type I collagen, the protein found in normal tendon and ligament tissue, replaces the weaker type III collagen and increases structural strength.
 
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