Stifle - medial ligament damage anyone??

starbar

starbar

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Any experiences of the above please?

I posted a few days ago about my boy, here:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=519079
The problem isn't muscular, it is ligament damage. Just wondered about anyone's experiences of ligament damage to the stifle?
Again, good or bad, I know it is serious but want to be prepared :confused:
Thanks x

ETA - he is going in for x rays and scans on Thursday and will be treated dependent upon exactly how bad the damage is....
 
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Mine did a proper job to her stifle, she ripped the meniscus on both the inside and outside of the joint, frayed her cruicet ligament and tore her collateral ligament, she was nine tenths lame under flexion, we gave her a course of cartrophen which improved her to a bout 4/5 tenths lame. She then had an op where they shaved the meniscus ans tidied the joint up. Did the box rest small paddock rest etc. She came sound enough to hack but not much more.:(I hope you get good results with your horse. x
 
madsetter said:
Mine did a proper job to her stifle, she ripped the meniscus on both the inside and outside of the joint, frayed her cruicet ligament and tore her collateral ligament, she was nine tenths lame under flexion, we gave her a course of cartrophen which improved her to a bout 4/5 tenths lame. She then had an op where they shaved the meniscus ans tidied the joint up. Did the box rest small paddock rest etc. She came sound enough to hack but not much more.:(I hope you get good results with your horse. x
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Thanks, I hope so too! Your poor girly :( Its the not really knowing how bad it is that's hard at the moment, although I'm a bit scared of knowing the extent of the damage too. Rock and a hard place springs to mind. :rolleyes: I only really hack him anyway and would be utterly delighted if he came back well enough to do this. I'd take field sound at the minute. x
 
I am happy that I can hack her but she is made of steel:) but not sure if her genorous nature lets her get on with life... she was depressed for a while as she went from being the queen bee (my no1 competiton horse) to doing nothing and this really upset her which is why I hack and do the odd fun ride.

I know the damaged that she had done really didn't show up until they did the arthroscopy op, even with two vets scanning and x raying, and they thought it was just the outside of the joint that had been damaged, but once they had the camera in the most damage was done on the inside.

The surgeon said to me that they have about a six to eight week window where if they go in and operate then there is a higher chance of the horse becoming sound.

Stifles are very complex, I had another that did her cruciate in the stable over night, she had 18 months off with the possability of being a hack, which I did till one day i turned her out in the indoor to strech her legs and someone had left a jump up, so she decided to have a jump:eek: She was still sound the next day so gradually started to jump her and in the end the biggest class I jumped was 1.15 in the jump off:D not bad for a horse that the vets wrote off!

keeping fingers crossed for you, let me know how you get on. x
 
Starbar, just seen this. I thought it might be ligament from what you said last week :( I'm so sorry, I was hoping it might be muscular after all.

The vet will probably do an arthroscopy & clean up the area when he goes in later this week, it's the only way to really find out what has happened.

I really hope that he does come sound for you. The best course of treatment, if he's calm enough to do it, will be controlled exercise, building up from 5-10 mins a day walking up to 20 mins a day after a couple of months, then some trot work. If he can be kept quiet on box rest or in a small paddock, this will all be helpful.

I couldn't do this with mine, even with Sedalin he became too much to handle; I started ridden exercise on vets advice but he also became too dangerous under saddle.

If your horse is quite calm, you will have a much better prognosis, if he's liable to go haring around though, he could well do more damage to himself.
 
Thanks, I will let you know what happens after the x-ray. How long after the injury did the arthroscopy take place? We are on 8 weeks from the injury occurring already as I had 3 people - local vet, chiropractor and farrier, telling me it was muscular. I referred him to this vet myself as I KNEW it was more serious :rolleyes:
 
Hello Jennbags - think we posted at the same time :o

Vet wants to inject steroids into the joint but is x-raying first to see if there is bone damage. I am happy to go down the arthroscopy route if he thinks it would help. I am praying for a lack of bone chips on that x-ray on Thursday as prognosis is a lot better without them. Keep everything crossed.

ETA - he IS a good boy at the minute. He quite likes his stable and watching the world go by and is fine for a little pootle out down the lane too
 
I think about 8 weeks as I really didn't want her operated on and I tried the cartrophen which is a 4 week course, then had to wait round for an appointment for a orthopedic surgeon consult then he operated about a week later.
 
One of mine has a stiffle injury & is only suitable for light hack/companion & will be on bute for the rest of his days, but only as & when he needs it. It has caused arthritus aswell he is only 10yrs old. Vet said he could have an op, but only had 20% chance of coming right. Let us know how you get on with the xray etc.
 
He will have to do an arthroscopy if he wants to find out what damage is done :confused: is this the same vet or the specialist that you were calling out?

My one's arthroscopy wasn't done until about 10 weeks after the injury. Both I and my physio thought the injury was stifle, but the vets insisted it was his hock :mad: as the other poster said, the sooner the arthroscopy is done, the better the outcome. You will also want to get on with the controlled exercise ASAP as he will need to re-build his muscle in order to support the ligament.

Good luck, and if you need any support, feel free to pm me. It's quite a rare injury, and I really struggled finding anyone to talk to about it :(
 
JennBags said:
He will have to do an arthroscopy if he wants to find out what damage is done :confused: is this the same vet or the specialist that you were calling out?

My one's arthroscopy wasn't done until about 10 weeks after the injury. Both I and my physio thought the injury was stifle, but the vets insisted it was his hock :mad: as the other poster said, the sooner the arthroscopy is done, the better the outcome. You will also want to get on with the controlled exercise ASAP as he will need to re-build his muscle in order to support the ligament.

Good luck, and if you need any support, feel free to pm me. It's quite a rare injury, and I really struggled finding anyone to talk to about it :(
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Thanks, I appreciate that. I have really struggled to find much info about it at all and I've been scouring the internet since the vet left.
This is the horse vet, I'm using Richard Owen from here:
http://www.rdowenequine.co.uk/
I think he wants to check for bone damage before he operates. Worst case scenario, there is a bad chip fracture in there where the ligament has pulled a lump of bone out, and a decision would need to be made about his future. If it is just ligament damage he wants to try steroids first to get the inflammation down.
On the plus side, he is on 1 and a half danilon a day and fully putting his heel down now and standing generally more 'level'. In walk he looks not far off sound. I know he is still on painkillers but there is definite improvement. I'm hanging on to that bit of hope anyway!
 
To be honest, I'd be pushing for the arthroscopy, it's his best chance of recovery. When they go in, they will clean up the debris, there will be something in there. Steroids are a short-term solution IMO.

It's good news that he's weight-bearing on it already :) Only about 25-30% of horses come sound, so I've got my fingers crossed for you, if he's a quiet boy, you've already got a better chance than some.
 
I'm going to phone them and have a chat tomorrow. I'd rather not mess around and make sure he has got the best chance of getting better, I'm also aware its been 8 weeks now and the longer it goes on the worse it will be. I'll see what they say. He may be avoiding the arthroscopy as he isn't insured :rolleyes: If he thinks it's what is needed though, then thats what will happen...
 
Good luck, I know how upset I was with my girl, stifles are complex and you hear so many varying reports about the outcome. If you need to talk pm me. Please let us know how you get on. x
 
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