Laser treatment for medial collateral ligament desmitis

[Annagain]

Wiggy’s MRI showed desmitis of the medial collateral ligament. We have a programme of box rest and rehab but I was chatting to a friend who is a qualified physio tonight and her first reaction was “when does he start the laser treatment?” Neither the vet at the hospital nor my vet have mentioned this. It doesn’t surprise me with my vet, he’s very old school and doesn’t think very highly of a lot of new treatments but I was surprised the the hospital didn’t mention it was a potential treatment option.

My friend said she swears by laser treatment for ligament injuries (she lives too far away from me to treat him so she wasn’t touting for business) and it recently took 2 months off the recovery time of a horse she was treating so now I don’t know whether it’s something I should try or not.

Does anyone have any experience of it as treatment for this particular injury please? I don’t mind the amount of time it’s going to take for myself but if I can reduce the box rest for him, I’ll gladly try anything.

 

[live2ride]

Not sure if this is what she means, but I just spoke about my experience with therapeutic ultrasound on the impar ligament thread.


My gelding went lame may/June in his right fore, took him to the vets, narrowed it down to his hoof. Initially blocked the back of the foot, no improvement.

Took him home for 4 weeks rest, (i won’t box rest due to asthma, and making his other issues worse) so field rest. Back to the vets after 4 weeks, zero improvement, this time blocked sound to coffin joint - theorizing coffin joint cartilage or collateral ligament issue. Not insured as uninsurable, so MRI not on the cards.
Back home for another 6-8 weeks rest before injecting the joint with stem cells last week.

During those 6-8 weeks his physio came out every 5-7 days to apply therapeutic ultrasound to the back off the foot in the hopes it might help healing but wouldn’t hurt.

Having had zero improvement in the 1st 4 weeks, we started seeing drastic improvement after the 3rd session; he was almost sound by the time he went back to vets for the stem cell injection.

 

[Season’s Bleatings]

Mine had class 4 laser after his DDFT surgery, it started about 2 weeks post surgery. It was administered by a rehab vet who is super clued in to the science & research side so might be worth exploring!

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Wiggy’s MRI showed desmitis of the medial collateral ligament. We have a programme of box rest and rehab but I was chatting to a friend who is a qualified physio tonight and her first reaction was “when does he start the laser treatment?” Neither the vet at the hospital nor my vet have mentioned this. It doesn’t surprise me with my vet, he’s very old school and doesn’t think very highly of a lot of new treatments but I was surprised the the hospital didn’t mention it was a potential treatment option.

My friend said she swears by laser treatment for ligament injuries (she lives too far away from me to treat him so she wasn’t touting for business) and it recently took 2 months off the recovery time so now I don’t know whether it’s something I should try or not.

Does anyone have any experience of it as treatment for this particular injury please? I don’t mind the amount of time it’s going to take for myself but if I can reduce the box rest for him, I’ll gladly try anything.

Arabi had laser for his suspensories he had mild damage to both a few years back, he injured one years previously that had healed with prp.

He had it done weekly for about 6 weeks I was meant to box rest him but I didn't because I had already decided I wasn't going to box rest anymore due to his age.

I figured he was basically living out in summer so he doesn't run about and my field is not huge.

He looked much better after the treatment he was only about 1 tenth lame anyway.

It's quite expensive as the vet has to do it my insurance wouldn't pay it as he had a previous injury.

The vet also wanted to sedate him each time but I said it wasn't necessary as I knew he would be fine, and he was the vet was a bit surprised as she said most need a bit because it's quite noisy and takes a while.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I will say when I broke my ankle and damaged all the surrounding soft tissue I hired a laser machine from a therapist I used.

I used it everyday on my ankle for about a month and I think it definitely helped I couldn't walk before I used it.

 

[Annagain]

Thanks all. I'll look into it a bit more. I've gone back through his discharge notes in case I missed anything but there's definitely nothing in there about laser. I don't care about shortening the time, I just want to give him the best possible chance at healing well.

 

[Season’s Bleatings]

Thanks all. I'll look into it a bit more. I've gone back through his discharge notes in case I missed anything but there's definitely nothing in there about laser. I don't care about shortening the time, I just want to give him the best possible chance at healing well.

Totally understand! Mine had 10 sessions I think roughly, the first few were twice weekly then once weekly over a period of about 6 weeks.
Still took everything mega slow, for the same reason as you - not to speed it up, but to optimise recovery.
Best of luck

 

[BronsonNutter]

I'm assuming it's the collateral ligament of the coffin joint that's affected? If the level of the injury is within the hoof capsule then the laser likely won't penetrate it. Same as shockwave, ultrasound etc. Best off speaking to your vets with the MRI images. Hope your horse does well - foot balance is really important in these cases