Sports Medicine for Horses

Football players have them, baseball players can't  perform without

them, and every Olympic athlete travels with at least one, if not a whole team of them. Who are these indispensable people? Sport Medicine physicians, the doctors who specialize in treating elite athletes. They closely monitor the athlete's  performance and addresses concerns that may be limiting performance. North Bridge Equine Associates employs two doctors that focus on this same area of medicine- just for horses, not humans! In addition to keeping horses in overall good health, Dr. Nostrant and Dr. Shen have excellent skills and training in specific areas of Equine Sports Medicine to keep your equine athlete performing their best. The biggest difference between those human doctors and our veterinarians is that we have to figure out where our patients are sore without the help of the patient "speaking" to them.

Dr. Nostrant and Dr. Shen both have extensive training and experience in evaluating and treating the equine athlete. Our doctors focus on evaluating the whole athlete and customizing a plan to keep your equine athlete at peak performance and pain free. The core of this plan is the performance exam. This is the crucial, non-verbal discussion between veterinarian and horse to determine the source of pain or soreness and where help is most needed. There are many things that the owner can verbally explain that is critical to helping discover the source of the performance problem. The rider knows their horse best and what you feel when you ride can provide valuable insight.

Before the veterinarian watches the horse move, he or she will perform a thorough palpation of the horse. Important clues are derived from the initial palpation. The horse's reaction, or lack of reaction can give clues as the source of the horse's pain. Using this information, the horse can be evaluated in hand, on the lunge, or ridden. The horse's movement will be carefully evaluated for symmetry, fluidity and balance. Flexion tests are helpful to localize the source of discomfort and can be performed either in hand or under saddle. At times, the problem can be so subtle, a horse may be asked to do the particular movement that the rider feels has become different. Other times the issue is obvious and the in-hand evaluation is sufficient to localize the source of pain. Based on the findings of the palpation and the moving exam the veterinarian may either propose a customized treatment plan or if the horse is lame the veterinarian proceed to diagnostic anesthesia (nerve blocks) in order to more specifically isolate the injured or painful structure. Sometimes with poor performance problems blocking may not even be possible as there is not an obvious lameness that can be resolved with blocking. In these cases open communication between veterinarian, rider and repoire with the horse become critical in order to find a resolution.  

Hocks

Stifles

Coffins

Sacroiliac (SI)

The Hock:

The equine hock is an astonishing combination of complexity and strength. It is the equivalent of the human ankle and has four joints and is comprised of a total of eight bones. This structure, along with its associated soft tissues, make up a powerhouse of propulsion for the horse, giving it the ability to run faster and jump higher then almost any other land mammal. In the performance horse, this is where a dressage horse's "spring" comes from, where a jumper's "push- off" originates, and where a reining horse's ability to "tuck and slide" arises. No wonder this part of the horse is, so often, an area of soreness and potential lameness. 

Luckily, for our beloved athletes, there are many things veterinarians have in the their arsenal to combat the wear and tear this and other joints receive from work. The equine body, like our own, has it's way of dealing with everyday joint stress. Synovial joints like the ones in the hock have smooth cartilage surfaces and thick fluid to keep joints moving smoothly without friction. The body can react to daily trauma by replenishing fluid and repairing cartilage. Athletic horses subject their hock joints to more severe stress that leads to inflammation and if untreated eventually pain and arthritis can develop. Trauma and injury to a joint can also induce arthritis. The hock joint is one of the most common locations for pain resulting in lameness and performance problems due to the nature of the work these horses perform. Treating sore hocks either systemically or directly with joint injections often makes a significant improvement in the comfort and performance of our equine athletes.

NBEA's Client Education Seminar was a huge success!

On May 12th, NBEA hosted a client continuing education seminar complete with dinner and drinks, sponsored by Zoetis.

The event focused on the management of the overweight performance horse and what we we can do to keep them fit, healthy and their endocrine systems in check. We also reviewed newer, safer therapies for joint maintenance other than traditional steriods, which while effective can be too risky to use in horses who are cushingnoid or have high insulin.

Our guest speaker, the late* Dr. Mark Crisman, spoke about the causes that can lead to laminitis and founder and the benefits of the Pro-Stride system.

Dr. Shen gave a talk about the other options for joint injections: PRP, IRAP, Alpha2-EQ, Arthramid.

Dr. Nostrant shared other new modalities that we added to our practice recently: veterinary spinal manipulation (chiropractic) and functional electric stimulation (FES).

Our clients that attended got some great take aways and are already looking forward to our next talk - we are hoping to host another client education seminar in a few months, so keep an ear out!

*(Sadly, we learned that just a week after our talk, Dr. Crisman passed away unexpectedly)