Although schockwave therapy systems have been around for approximately 12 years, more veterinarians are now using shock wave therapy to treat musculoskeletal problems and soft-tissue and bone injuries in horses than ever before.
Vets finding value in schockwave treatment in horses
Shockwave technology has been found to be highly effective in treating many lameness and musculo-skeletal problems in horses.
Because shockwave therapy is non-invasive it can be used to stimulate healing so horses return to a level of full soundness and useful activity without recurrence of injury or disease. It actually heals tissues instead of merely suppressing pain and inflammation.
A shockwave is a pressure wave.When a stone is thrown into a pond the ripples are shockwaves. The term has nothing to do with “shocking” or electricity.
The shockwaves used in equine medicine are generated in a fluid medium inside a transducer head and are then transmitted readily through skin, fat, and muscle. The high energy waves are focused within the transducer head so that the shockwave can be directed to the precise area of the injury. When shockwaves hit an area of higher acoustic impedance, such as bone, the waves slow dramatically and a large amount of energy is released into the surrounding tissue.
Though its actual mode of action is still in dispute, it stimulates and accelerates the healing process, essentially combining an immediate analgesic effect with a reduction in inflammation, creating new blood vessels in soft tissue and regeneration in bone.
Initially used to treat musculo-skeletal problems and kidney stones in humans, this same shockwave technology has been found to be highly effective in treating many lameness and musculo-skeletal problems in horses. Using hydraulic pressure, sound waves are generated by the machine that penetrate the horse’s tissue, where they result in the release of beneficial bio-chemicals and stimulate the growth of a new blood supply to injured areas, as well as providing pain relief.
This micro-manipulation of the denser body tissues such as ligaments, tendons and bone by the shockwave stimulates growth of new blood vessels in tissue and the production of cells that heal tendon, ligament and bone. The cellular "deep tissue massage" produced by shockwave therapy also provides some degree of analgesia (pain control), improves healing rates in skin wounds, and produces improvement in infected injury sites.
How are shockwaves used in treating horses?
Shockwave therapy has been successfully used to treat many soft tissue and bony problems, both acute and chronic. These include, but are not limited to:
- Suspensory ligament tears, strains, and avulsion fractures
- Arthritis, joint pain
- Bowed tendons
- Splints
- Bucked Shins
- Deep digital flexor tendon injuries, including those within the hoof
- Navicular syndrome
- Ringbone (High and Low)
- Back pain, Neck pain
- Muscle tears and strains
- Ligament and tendon tears and strains
- Improve large or chronic wound healing
- Burns