Treatment options for chronic PSD?

floradora09

floradora09

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My 17yo hasn't been sound behind now for about 7 weeks, my first vet initially said it was arthritis and we tried bute to get him going and then hock injections, after which neither worked he had a full workup last week. I had a different vet out who was lovely and explained everything really well, and he blocked out positive to both hind proximal suspensory branches. Scanned him, and vet said tissue looked quite good- no holes or anything, but it could be that they are both slightly inflamed but difficult to tell as it's bilateral so can't compare them.

I've been told he'll need 12 weeks box rest with walking, shockwave, and keen to try platelet rich plasma insertion. Vet reckons realistically it tends to be a 50% rate of return to full soundness. Neurectomy is an option but it hasn't shown to be as successful in horses with very straight hindlimb conformation, which he has. I was flapping that we'd made it worse by taking a while to diagnose, but was assured that in his case it's a chronic condition due to his conformation/work/age and was bound to happen, and has probably been going on for a while before he actually presented lame.

I'm a bit daunted by how we'll cope for 3 months as he usually lives out, but is quiet in a box, I'm just worried he'll stiffen up and get extremely bored. :o

Any advice on dealing with PSD? It's totally new to me so am about to embark on reading every article I can find about it ;) Are there any other treatments we could look at to improve his chances? I'm also going to look into feeding him MSM as I believe this helps them to repair connective tissue, and possibly magnets to try and improve blood flow to the area.

Thanks :)
 
If you have Facebook there is a PSD discussion group on it. It has lots of info and everyone on it has been in your position so are very supportive so I suggest you join that as PSD can be very controversial on this forum x
 
See you joined? hope you find it a help, I did. there are some very knowledgeable people on there so I hope you get some answers to some difficult questions. I wish you and your horse well, good luck x
 
Thanks cellie will take a look! :) Sorry about yours, especially at such a young age, but sounds as if you're giving him the best chance to come back.

councillor, thank you very much, it all seems a little gloom and doom but I shall fully equip myself with everything I can find on it and make a good plan. The research by vet stem seems quite encouraging but I don't know if it's peer reviewed- my vet didn't sound very keen on stem cell therapy anyway so I shall quiz her next week!
 
brucea said:
Worth reaching out to Nic Barker at Rockley Farm too. See what she thinks.
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Thanks :) Read somewhere that wedge shoes can help relieve any strain on the suspensory ligaments, although I do not know how sustainable and beneficial that would be for him in the long term, as part of me thinks if you do that you'd be putting pressure somewhere else. Hmm, will talk to vet.
 
prp seems to be favoured more than stem cell at the moment they spin the blood and take out platelets and inject straight into damaged area,its far cheaper than stem cell and has shown positive results.:D
 
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