Site Menu:
This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below: |
HorseAdvice.com » Horse Care » Routine Horse Care » Turn Out and Putting Horses on Pasture » |
Discussion on Support for tendon injury | |
Author | Message |
Member: beydao |
Posted on Monday, Mar 31, 2008 - 3:01 pm: Nine months ago whilst at livery our horse ran backwards into a piece of machinery that had been left in the field. A spike severed the superficial flexor tendon on the hind leg, missing by a hair's breadth, the deep digital flexor. the sever was recut to get rid of the ragged edges and nine months later we are walking him out. The scan shows a good heal but the horse is frustrated on the lead rope and is getting quite athletic. We are advised to primarily dope him to turn him out in a small area for three months. He has been bandaged for all this time..changing every other day.. but I wonder whether these bandages will become loose and heavy in the wet and wonder if anyone can recommend which bandages or boots he should wear to help with support and protection. He will be in at night and he is a thoroughbred that really does know how to look after him self. I am extremely nervous about turning him out Alison |
Member: stevens |
Posted on Monday, Mar 31, 2008 - 6:38 pm: Hi Alison,If you wrap Elastikon or some other adhesive medical tape around your regular wrap, it should hold up for a couple of days. Check out the article on this site on wrapping legs; I've had tremendous success using the techniques described therein. Good Luck! |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008 - 9:31 am: Hello Alison,The most important question is why are you continuing to bandage? Are there still any open wounds? Does the leg swell if not bandaged? The reason you bandage certainly will effect the type bandage. You should note that such bandaging does not "support" the tendon as in relieving the pressures of weight bearing. DrO |
Member: beydao |
Posted on Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008 - 2:56 pm: We have bandaged ever since the injury, on both back legs. When walking out up a small incline,we live in Devon...very hilly, we have been advised to bandage over his protective padding until we get up the hill and then take the top layer off on the flat. His shoe was very high originally and now is almost back to normal. I presumed the bandages supported and protected the leg while it was delicate and I assumed the area would be weak.Could you explain why the bandages do not help. I thought they might work in the same way as an ankle brace on a human ankle. The leg does not swell and the site where the incision was made has healed very well indeed. He has a restricted area so therefore stands still more than he would naturally. I am afraid I have just gone along with my vets advice and probably not searched for the answers. Alison |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Wednesday, Apr 2, 2008 - 8:47 am: Alison, it is not that bandaging is not beneficial. There are many benefits to bandaging as outline in our articles on bandaging and probably contributed greatly to the excellent results you report.But what bandaging is not good at is supporting the stress of weight bearing on the tendon. It really is just common sense that the materials of the bandage are not stressed much along the lines of weight bearing force and do the small degree they are, just underneath the fetlock, they quickly stretch and become fatigued. There is not a lot of scientific work on this but in the one careful look at the subject (Am J Vet Res. 1992 Jul;53(7):1203-8. Evaluation of support bandaging during measurement of proximal sesamoidean ligament strain in horses by use of a mercury strain gauge.) The conclusion was that of the three soft bandaging techniques they looked at there was no reduction is suspensory strain. Casting and hard splinting did relieve strain. These results can be extrapolated to the flexors since they both support some of the same structures. I have seen some informal information that some of the sports medicine fetlock boots do provide a small amount of support but have not seen anything that confirms these findings and whether the support significant. There is really not much comparison of the human ankle and the cannon-fetlock area of horses from a biomechanical aspect. The ankle of humans is not "suspended" like the ankle of horses. The chief reason to protect the human ankle with "support techniques" is to avoid lateral and medial deviation that strains the collateral ligaments, the most often injured structure of human ankles. However this is not well achieved with the over the counter wraps and really requires vigorous taping applied directly to the skin along the lines of stress. However the chronically injured human ankle is prone to swelling which is what the over the counter products are good at controlling. DrO |
Member: beydao |
Posted on Wednesday, Apr 2, 2008 - 12:45 pm: Thankyou for your help..I am sorry to be a little dense about it all but I am looking at your articles on bandaging and learning. I might add that I am from the pre exercise boot generation, if you remember we used bandaging for everything and my grandfathers cart horses would never go to bed without their bandages on for warmth. One of my first jobs as a child was bandaging Dolly. Thankyou for your help. Victor is progressing well. Alison |
Member: parker66 |
Posted on Wednesday, Apr 2, 2008 - 10:41 pm: I would try "Trace bandages". They are bandages that racetrack people use to exercise their horses in the morning, but are much safer than polos and dampness doesn't usually affect them if they are applied properly.https://storesense.megawebservers.com/stores/HS1756/catalog/tracce.jpg |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Thursday, Apr 3, 2008 - 8:05 am: I understand Alison, these words are heresy to all from that generation and even those of this generation taught by those of that generation. Uhhh does that make sense? Anyway, a good support bandages ability to control swelling has long been misinterpreted as decreasing the work of the tendons and ligaments.DrO |