Mesotherapy in Horses
Mesotherapy is most commonly used to treat back and/or neck muscle pain in horses.
A combination of anti-inflammatory and nerve calming medications are injected using tiny needles into the layer of skin called the mesoderm. These injections show up as little skin bumps, resembling hives, all over the treatment area. Don't worry, the bumps will be gone within a couple hours, but the medications will still be taking effect.
The idea is that by injecting that layer of skin, we are interacting with the nerves causing pain from a different route, causing a "nerve reset" in a way. Mesotherapy is used to break the pain cycle that many horses seem to experience when they have chronic back and/or neck muscle stiffness. Other therapies may be done in addition to mesotherapy, pending the clinical diagnosis. Then, once the horse is more comfortable and we have "broken through" the pain, we can work on building proper muscle tone to avoid repeat injury.
Cold weather recommendations in horses
How cold is too COLD to ride my horse?🤷🏻♀️❄️🐴
Too cold is a bit relative to what your horse is used to, but here in the PNW too COLD is about 20-23 degrees F🥶
Why it matters:
When horses breathe in cold air they warm and humidify the air in their upper airway before it reaches the lungs. However, if they are working hard in COLD weather the upper airway cannot keep up. This means cold, dry air reaches the lungs which causes inflammation and damage to the lung tissue. So here in the PNW if the temperature is 23 degrees or below outside you should probably just stick to walking. If it’s just a bit warmer than that, stick to light work. Avoid forcing the horse to exert themselves in cold weather especially if they are older, have a history of airway disease, or are out of shape.
Other cold weather considerations:
You will need to increase your warm up time to give the horse's muscles and other soft tissues time to warm up properly and be ready for exercise💪You could even consider a quarter sheet over the hind quarters when warming up to keep your horse warmer, especially if clipped.
Dehydration is common in the winter so make sure your horse has access to water that’s not frozen and is drinking well🪣
Use caution if there is ice and snow on the ground. Horses can slip and fall on the ice just like we can!
High Powered Laser Therapy
High powered laser therapy is serious business… which means you get to wear super sexy glasses when using it😎
Laser therapy works at the cellular level to provide pain relief, improve circulation, decrease inflammation, swelling and scar tissue and regenerate healthy tissue🪄
We use high powered laser therapy on soft tissue injuries that we want to heal faster and better than with traditional therapies alone, and sometimes we even use it in combination with other regenerative options. Laser protocols are designed specifically for each injury and vary pending the chronicity (how old or new the injury is).
For laser therapy horses get treated twice daily for 10 days, so they typically stay in the clinic with us for 2 weeks. An ultrasound is done before and after treatment to monitor progress and come up with an appropriate rehab plan before the horse goes home.
Unfortunately, high powered laser therapy is not typically covered by insurance.
Middle Gluteal Muscle Palpation
The middle gluteal muscle… the reason back pain can be a pain in the butt!🤣
The middle gluteal muscle originates in the low back/sacrum region and inserts in the hip region. (I'm palpating the muscle in this video so you can see the location). The muscle is responsible for hip extension and abduction of the hindlimb.
[To abduct = to take away = abduction = moving away from the body]
Now imagine a horse that’s sore in it's hocks … they start to move a little differently behind, not wanting to put too much pressure on those sore joints, and they start to compensate… maybe even shorten their stride behind…
In doing so, they put different stresses on the middle gluteal muscle making that muscle sore.
The muscle originates in the low back… and now the low back region is sore… but it's not really back soreness! It's hind end soreness that looks like back soreness!!🤯
Treatment could involve shockwave, treating the sore hocks and/or regional muscle injections pending the clinical evaluation. This is why a good clinical exam and flexions are so crucial to getting the right areas treated and not missing something that could continue to cause performance issues.
When I say a joint has "increased joint effusion" what does that mean?🧐
It means that on palpation of a joint I can feel more fluid in the joint than should be there.
Increased fluid typically means inflammation💉
Joint inflammation can be caused by a number of factors, the most common being arthritis. Other causes could include joint/bone/cartilage injury and/or soft tissue injury near the joint or a reaction to a previous joint treatment. Sorting through these potential causes involves a good clinical exam and likely some imaging to diagnose the cause of the "increased joint effusion" pending the horses level of lameness and history.
Digital Sheath Tenosynovitis
Treatment and rehab depends on a variety of factors including; the degree of lameness, amount of digital sheath effusion, severity of the injury and amount of adhesions within the tendon sheath.
Conservative therapy includes the use of NSAIDs, stall/small paddock rest with controlled walking and cold therapy.
Injections into the digital sheath can be done (as shown here)💉
Shockwave can also be used to encourage further healing of the injured structure within the digital tendon sheath. Laser therapy could also be helpful in healing if the location allows it.
Oftentimes once a horse has had a tendon sheath injury, even if it was mild, there will always be some swelling in the digital sheath. It becomes more of a cosmetic issue when not associated with lameness or response to palpation or flexion. Hence the term "wind puffs" referring to a blemish.
