Inflamed tendon

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Rollin

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My horse has an inflamed tendon identified via ultrasound - although not presenting lame.

Shock wave therapy is recommended. Does it work and what are the alternatives?
 
Hi,

Some practices use shock wave therapy and others dont. Vets are rather divided about it and i'm afraid i'm one of the sceptics. I treat my cases with box rest, initial hot and cold therapy (hot poulticing and cold hosing) for 3 days, and possible antiinflammatories although one has to be careful with these as you do not want the horse to be unable to feel the injury and therefore use it too much. AFter 4-6 weeks depending on the case i will advise the start of a controlled exercise programme starting with 10 mins walking in hand twice daily and gradually building this up to ridden work. Your vet should provide you with a detailed exercise programme. The tendon should be rescanned before this exercise begins and depending on its progress may be rescanned again at stages throughout the programme such as before starting trot work.
Depending on the type of injury (and also depending on whether cost is an issue to you) a course of injections with substances such as cartrophen or adequan can help to speed up tendon repair.
Sometimes we will also use an ultrasound therapy machine which i guess in a way is similar to shockwave but its not something i have used much, the senior partner uses it occasionally.

Basically the most important thing for tendon repair is rest.

Hope this helps.

Kat x
 
I too would use shock wave with caution. My friends 4 year old mare had it for a problem in her hoof - leisions on the pedal bone... mid way through the treatment the mare developed ringbone... connected? not sure but bit too much of a coincidence.

I would gou down the more traditional route of box rest / restricted turnout, cold hosing and bandaging with / without bute and possibly look at a good feed supplement that will aid repair - MSM is a good one which also has anti-inflamitory properties... but any of the good joint supps will help...
 
Thank you and CB fan for your posts. Horse is 17hh CB stallion who will not cope with box rest. He is currently in small turnout next to his 9 month old daughter and pony - so quite happy and chilled.

He has never presented lame and I suspect he was injured in the paddock months ago. He was reluctant to canter on left rein and adopted a camped behind stance after work. He has been seen numerous times by vet and osteopath who did not identify the problem. In fact the vet said he needed to be worked to build muscle!!!

I have a new Orthopaedic vet who examined him identified inflamed tendon and confirmed this with ultra-sound on Friday.

I used to manage a Trauma and Orthopaedic dept and wrote to my ex-boss who is an Orthopaedic Surgeon. For people 70% improved with shock therapy as compared with 45% on placebo!! He would not use the treatment until he had tried anti-inflammatories.

As my boy has had no treatment whatsoever, I am going to ask for anti-inflammatories first with rest and see how he does. The shock therapy cost here is double the UK i.e 600 euros plus as opposed to £300. We can afford it but don't intend to waste money of ???? treatment.

Thank you once more for your help.
 
Hi Rollin, your CB Boy sounds similar to mine - does one week of box rest but any more is asking far too much of him so I have found turnout in a resonably small padock an ideal alternative... Good luck! I hope the anti-inflamatories help.
 
He is happy at night when everyone is in - but like most CB's he is very sociable and can't stand the isolation. If we get him right he will be turned out with his favourite mare Beamish Rosemary. Thanks for your good wishes.
 
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