Modalities are used in conjunction with physiotherapy to ultimately get the best results. For horse owners across all disciplines, the diagnosis of an injury in their equine athlete can feel earth shattering, regardless of how minor that injury may be. From elite equine athletes recovering from an injury to show horses looking to stay fit safely in between shows, the veterinarian-owned, specialist
-operated rehabilitation facility, eCORE North Texas is revolutionizing how horses both recover and strengthen. The rehabilitation specialists of eCORE North Texas achieve such case success by prescribing tailored physical therapy regimens that are combined with traditional modalities including underwater treadmill, salt water spa therapy, therapeutic ultrasound, and whole body vibration just to name a few. In 2017, Dr. Dave Frisbie, a charter Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation (ACVSMR) with over 25 years of equine
surgery and sports medicine expertise, organized Equine Core, Inc. whose mission was to provide cutting-edge care to rehabilitation patients. Frisbie, Melissa King, Sherry Johnson and Aaron Wallace are the founding partners of Equine CORE, Inc, a company aimed at revolutionizing equine rehabilitation both through on-site and virtual at-home protocol prescription. With the founding company formed, the next goal was simple: bring together elite equine surgeons, sports medicine and rehabilitation specialists to help care for each injured horse on a tailored, case-by-case basis. The syndicate of progressive sports medicine practices that make up eCORE North Texas recognize equine rehabilitation as a huge resource for their clients. At eCORE North Texas, the nation’s first veterinarian-owned, specialist operated rehabilitation center, each horse receives daily physical therapy that has been prescribed by Drs. Johnson and King following an in depth hands on functional assessment. Each horse is re-evaluated every week as they progress through the rehabilitation program. King and Johnson collaborate with an on-site management team dedicated to providing long-term and day-to-day care that results in a better and stronger equine athlete. Dr. Melissa King is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation and is currently an Assistant Professor in Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation at Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. ��Dr. King earned her veterinary degree from Colorado State University in 1997; following graduation she completed a one-year internship at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. Following her internship Dr. King returned to northern Colorado as an equine private practitioner focusing on orthopaedics and sports medicine. After practicing for 10 years Dr. King returned to Colorado State University to pursue a PhD in equine orthopaedics and rehabilitation at the Equine Orthopaedic Research Center. Through her work with underwater treadmill exercise and its role in mitigating the process of osteoarthritis, she has solidified herself as one of the nation’s leading researchers in aqua therapy. Dr. Sherry Johnson attended veterinary school at Iowa State University and then completed a one-year equine diagnostic imaging and rehabilitation fellowship at Colorado State University where she gained advanced, specialized training in equine imaging. She then transitioned into the Equine Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation residency program through Colorado State University and Equine Sports Medicine, LLC. Her PhD research is focused on soft tissue healing and rehabilitation. These skills have optimized her clinical expertise of diagnosing and monitoring soft tissue injuries in the rehabilitation setting. The focus of rehabilitation at eCORE North Texas is centered around providing tailored programs that modulate pain, enhance healing, improve strength, flexibility and global fitness throughout multiple stages of a horse’s rehabilitation. In addition to whole-horse core work, specific exercises are also developed for the injury itself, often times consisting of passive range of motion, controlled eccentric loading and augmenting proprioceptive awareness through the use of various physical therapy aides such as a hindend Theraband, ground poles or a weighted surcingle. Other physical therapies are also offered including passive joint range of motion, deep tissue massage and kinesiotaping which optimize the long-term results of the athlete’s rehabilitation. At eCORE North Texas, each horse is treated on an individual basis because the road to optimal performance and recovery is different for each equine athlete. Certain injuries in horses no longer have to be career-ending. eCORE accepts referral horses from other veterinarians, post-surgical patients who are on the path to recovery, and even athletes who need extra conditioning and strength that these individually tailored programs provide.
