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| Tendon injury treatments-your experiences? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 2 2007, 01:44 PM (570 Views) | |
| JustWait | May 2 2007, 01:44 PM Post #1 |
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We're on a bridge, Chaaaaaaaaarlie!
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Well, yesterday I got the bad news that my horse's ultrasound showed a partial tear in the deep digital flexor tendon of his right hind. Vet recommended 4-6 weeks of stall rest, then a follow up ultrasound to see where things stand. He said I'm probably looking at 4 months off minimum. Has anyone else had experience with this type of injury? If so, what was your treatment protocol? Has anyone used the stem cell therapy or platelet rich plasma treatment? Mine does NOT do well locked in a stall, and he gets bored SO easily, so this is going to be quite a challenge. Any thoughts, experiences, etc. that you'd like to share would be greatly appreciated. |
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| Quin | May 2 2007, 04:33 PM Post #2 |
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Schooling
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So sorry about your guy! Yours might be worse than ours; we just had a low bow in the left front with some partial tearing and a big bubble of fluid between the two tendons. It was just coming on for winter, and he never loved being a stall boarder either: 24/7 turnout was best for his personality. But we shoved him into the stall and he tolerated it surprisingly well. I'd recommend an oversized stall if possible, even a double or mare/foal stall if you can get it, and in a high traffic area so he has lots of company. We took a very traditional course: cold hosing and icing several times a day during the acute inflammation, with Bute and DMSO to help knock it down. Then we began with a little daily hand-grazing, which really involved minimal movement (as soon as he buried his nose in real live grass again, dynamite wouldn't move him until he had it down to bare dirt). About 8 weeks post-injury we started very light hand-walking. We slooooooowly increased that until we got up to 45 minutes once a day, then switched over to twice a day and got up to half an hour twice a day. Then we added a little trotting, and/or 5 minutes of solo turnout in the arena. We are now 6 months post-injury. He is back to 24/7 turnout and is walking under saddle. We figure on taking at least 3 more months before he's back to full flat work and considering jumping again. It felt like forever while we were doing that endless hand-walking, but the last ultrasound showed it was all worth it; except for one tiny remaining bit of the fluid, the whole structure looks great. Best of luck! |
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| Propped Up | May 3 2007, 04:41 AM Post #3 |
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I Visited Candy Mountain and All I Got Was This Lousy Incision
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2 years ago my mare had a double bow on the hind leg...not an atheletic injury, but caused from the trauma of kicking a rail (twice). I remember that devastating feeling when we got the news of the seriousness of her injury, but we got to work and gave her the best care possible. She was never on complete stall rest. Her recovery started with 5 minutes of hand walking 4 times a day, then after the next ultrasound...10 minutes 3 times a day...20 minutes 2 times a day, etc. I was back on walking her after 4 months bringing her back gradually from there. We took our time and did exactly what the doctor ordered and she recovered very well. Also, there was cold hosing and ice packs in the beginning and the application of Surpass on the tendon. She was kept in a 12 x24 open stall which I am sure was a lot easier on her mind than a 12 x12. She is now turning and burning in the jumpers and we have had no further problems with the leg. Good luck with your guy. |
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| headlesshorseman | May 3 2007, 05:44 AM Post #4 |
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You're BANNED!
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Justwait..that's what you're gonna be doing...waiting!!! my yearling knicked his rear tendon sheath last year..and he still "isn't right"..he might not be, but I'm still trying...Please email me and I will tell you more..but right now stall rest is a MUST!!! and little or NO movement is best... My friends horse did this and it took 14 months to heal, and to get back to normal..The mare is doing great. My yearling is looking good too..he still has a slight tippy-toe step when he trots..I keep saying to myself, if he isn't pretty enough to be in the hunter ring..he can be a jumper...which is probably what he will become...please feel free to email me..I know I emailed my friend 2 and 3 times a day to talk me off the ledge. Good Luck with him. |
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| Barn Mom | May 3 2007, 06:23 AM Post #5 |
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Schooling
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I feel for you JustWait. We are doing the same with my daughters mare. Torn Superficial in the right front from poor footing in the schooling ring at her last show. We did opt to do the Stem Cell Therapy at UF. We took her there on a Monday. Tuesday they took the fat for the stem cells from her butt and sent it off to California. By Friday they had it back and did the procedure where they inject the stem cells into the tear. We opted to go this route to give her a better heal. She is on 6 weeks stall rest (thank god for the Resperine and Quietex), support wrapped. She got bute for the first 2 weeks. We do take her out every day for a 15 minute hand graze to keep her from going stir crazy. We cut her feed way back to a handful (just to get her supplements in her) and give her plenty of good hay. My daughter gives her a good bath twice a week and groomes her every day (at least her coat will look good). We take her back to UF the first of June for a followup sonogram to see how everything is healing. I have heard good thing about the Stem Cell so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
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| JustWait | May 3 2007, 12:23 PM Post #6 |
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We're on a bridge, Chaaaaaaaaarlie!
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Headlesshorseman - I sent you an email. Let me know if you don't receive it. |
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| Nylar | May 3 2007, 12:41 PM Post #7 |
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We're on a bridge, Chaaaaaaaaarlie!
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My guy tore his DDFT about a year and a half ago. He's a bitch to have in the barn (normally out 24/7), but was in about 3 months, and then we put him in a small paddock for another 2 months (it was the middle of winter and I was having visions of ice slippage). We did DMSO and Bute in the first weeks, but my vet never offered any options other than waiting it out. We ultrasounded it regularly, but my budget wasn't going to allow for any major treatments and he is too old to reasonably insure. I'm not going to lie and say that he's perfect now. He has days where he looks like crap, and his tendency to self-injury is high enough to make me cringe daily that he'll reinjure it. But he's sound 95% of the time, schools 3'+ more often than I ever thought he would, and packs one of my students at 2'6". So he's still quite useful, and we just keep an eye on that leg to be sure we catch anything before it becomes a major problem again. |
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| SkipHiLad4me | May 9 2007, 12:50 PM Post #8 |
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Weanling
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Oh wow this sounds so familiar!! <_< November '05 my horse pulled that same tendon on his left hind leg. He was out of work for a good 7 months. We tried stall rest but he jumped out.... twice. So we turned him out. To begin with, I was doing poultice wraps and the sort but once most of the heat left I was just doing a dry support wrap. I kept it wrapped for about 5 months and then just left him unwrapped for the last 2 months or so of his recovery. It was September of '06 before he returned to regular work. Last week, same horse pulled the same tendon in the RIGHT hind leg. So we're both in the same boat We're just going to do the same treatment we used last time only we're switching him to the GLC joint supplement with the hopes that it will help improve his soundness problems. The vet thinks it could be a degenerative condition since he's had back to back injuries like this. He's 18 so he's starting to get a little age on him. He got both of them just playing around in the pasture. He gets ridden by a 9-10 yr old girl maybe 2-4 times a week... mostly flat work with some 18'' jumps. So it's definitely not his work load that's doing him in.Good luck with your horse. It's a pretty frustrating injury to deal with. In my experience, some days it'll look better and some days it'll look worse so it's just hard to know what to expect. |
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| JustWait | May 10 2007, 12:16 PM Post #9 |
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We're on a bridge, Chaaaaaaaaarlie!
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A big thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and kind words. I'm taking my guy to another vet for a second opinion tomorrow. He's SO tired of being in his stall, and it's only been 10 days. And last night I flipped out a little when I went down to the barn to ice his right leg and saw there was a little heat and swelling down low in his left leg Thankfully, the heat was gone in the left leg this morning.I'm going to ask the vet tomorrow about available treatment options like stem cell, IRAP, Acell, shock wave, etc. Thankfully, my insurance company, Markel, has been absolutely fabulous and has covered everything so far. I keep telling myself, he's only 5, hopefully he'll come back 100% eventually.
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| NZ Loopy Lou | May 21 2007, 02:40 PM Post #10 |
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Thomas H. Cruise!
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I rehabbed a little racehorse who had bowed a tendon quite badly. The worst thing was that because he was not lame, he had been RACED on the injury! The greed of some owners is unbelievable! Anyway, he came to me not long after that race as his owners wanted to put him on THE truck but his trainer was very fond of him and wanted to give him a second chance. He is a dear little horse, so gentle and quiet and kind. Anyway, we don't have stables so my only choice was to turn him out 24/7 on to flat pasture in a small paddock. Because he is so quiet he didn't race around the paddock and do further damage. Gradually we put him out on to our hills and he had a full year off before I brought him back into slow work. I used magnetics on the leg as well - not sure how successful it was but it was an easy and relatively low cost treatment option. He hasn't had an off day in the 3 years since returning to work and is in a new home where he has been in work pretty much full time for this period. He is competing and doing well although he is not a serious prospect due to some conformation issues. He's an A grade pleasure horse and has many years of faithful service left in him. I think the key is to take it slow and steady and not to rush the recovery. It is my understanding that most horses with tendon injuries return to full strength, in time. Good luck and hang in there
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We're just going to do the same treatment we used last time only we're switching him to the GLC joint supplement with the hopes that it will help improve his soundness problems. The vet thinks it could be a degenerative condition since he's had back to back injuries like this. He's 18 so he's starting to get a little age on him. He got both of them just playing around in the pasture. He gets ridden by a 9-10 yr old girl maybe 2-4 times a week... mostly flat work with some 18'' jumps. So it's definitely not his work load that's doing him in.
Thankfully, the heat was gone in the left leg this morning.
5:59 PM Jul 10