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  Discussion on Old navicular fracture
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Posted on Friday, Jan 14, 2000 - 12:28 pm:

My 8yr old gelding has a 4yr old navicular fracture. He has corrective shoeing and recieves about every joint supplement possible. He has a very sporadic lameness. Some days he's sound, some days he varies from barely to severly lame. I think I'm giving my Vet an ulcer.
Has anyone had any luck with joint injections or nerving with navicular fractures. My vet is reluctant to try either since it has been impossible to pin point the exact cause of pain. We tried intermuscular legend shots with no results. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Posted on Friday, Jan 14, 2000 - 2:35 pm:

Hmm. I'm no vet but have done a little reading on degenerative navicular synDrOme ...

Does the fracture look healed on the x-rays? Or is the fracture where the navicular bone have inclusions, lollipops, etc.? Or is it a fracture that is still distinct after 4 years in the x-rays?

When your horse is "off" and exhibiting lameness symptoms, has your vet done a series of nerve blocks, working up the leg to determine the location of the soreness? The idea is that the lameness will stop showing when the block takes effect. I would think that such a diagnostic technique would help determine if "nerving" would help the horse's comfort.

Does your vet have access to a university/teaching vet school or is there a specialized facility, either of which he could refer your case to?

What kind of corrective shoeing are you doing?

Have you seen the web sites below? They may interest you and give you some ideas.
https://members.screenz.com/gretchenfathauer/default.htm

https://www.alltel.net/~star/

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 18, 2000 - 10:59 am:

Hello Alicia,
I do not recommend nerving horses with radiographically evident bony disease of the foot. First it usually does not create a sound horse and second the horse using the diseased tissues in a normal fashion usually tesults in a rapid functional breakdown in the tissues.

Though a 4 year old fracture will invariably have resulted in arthritis of the joints associated with the navicular bone if you wanted to try a long shot try the recommendations in the article associated with this forum. Just use the navigation bar at the top of this page and then select the articles title.
DrO

Posted on Monday, Feb 21, 2000 - 4:27 pm:

Dr O,
We tried the shoeing techinque a year ago with no results. Probably because the fracture is so old and adhesions are not the problem. After an extensive exam including new xrays, and nerve blocks. My Vet is now considering nerving my gelding as the only option to give him some relief. The x-rays showed the fracture unchanged and no other signs of degeneration. He came completely sound when the heel was blocked. I was sent home to consider the possible consequences of such a surgery, while he refered to some collegues for other options we hadn't tried. My question is there are apparently 2 kinds of nerving procedures. One is done standing, and one requires general anesthesia. Does either have a greater chance of success? Are the recovery times any different and wich causes less stress on the horse? This horse is becoming delicate probably because of the constant pain, and I would like to cause him as little trauma as possible. I realize this is a last resort, but I feel we are reaching that point and watching him be in pain is almost more than I can stand.

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 22, 2000 - 8:26 am:

Yes the surgery done under general anesthesia is a much better procedure.
DrO
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