Reviewed by Sarah le Jeune, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, ECVS, ACVSMR, CVA, CVC

Classified among physical therapy/rehabilitation techniques, extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) remains an important tool for helping manage a variety of equine conditions/injuries.Issues amenable to ESWT in horses include, but are not limited to:

As you can see, this list primarily involves musculoskeletal conditions. Musculoskeletal injuries occur commonly in horses and all too frequently result in loss of use, early retirement, or even euthanasia. Combined with the fact that some injuries, such as lesions involving the superficial digital flexor tendon, have a propensity to recur despite extensive rest and controlled exercise programs,modalities such as ESWT continue to gain popularity in managing them.

Studies also support the use of ESWT in wound-healing. Many wounds affecting the lower parts of the equine limb heal slowly and often develop some degree of excessive scar (granulation) tissue, commonly referred to as proud flesh.

As with any intervention, seek your veterinarians advice prior to instituting therapy to avoid further compromising your horses well-being.

Described as both safe and effective, ESWT involves applying shock waves to an injured area of the body. Shock waves are intense but short energy pulses that travel so quicklya whopping 1,500 meters/ secondthey literally break the sound barrier. This is the same event that occurs when airplanes break the speed of sound, except in a much smaller format. The extracorporeal part of the name simply refers to the fact that the shock waves are generated outside the body.

A probe attached to a generator unit applies the shock waves directly to the injured region of the horse. Shock wave machines often have several probes capable of delivering shock waves to different tissue depths. This allows veterinarians to treat superficial injuries, such as wounds or lower limb tendons that are close to the skins surface, as well as deeper injuries, such as to muscles or back joints.

Veterinarians can adjust various settings on the shock wave unit to tailor the therapy to a horses individual needs. The three main settings vets must consider include:

Read more here:
Shock Wave Uses and Benefits The Horse - TheHorse.com

Comments are closed.