ARC Equine Therapy System

[YellowPonyEventer]

My mare has just been diagnosed with bilateral hind suspensory branch desmitis. We have tried shockwave with no improvement, and she’s pretty uncomfortable even on Bute. The vet said we cannot do PRP or stem cell, because the changes in her ligaments are widespread and there are no lesions, so nowhere specific to inject.

One of my friends suggested this ARC Equine microcurrent therapy system, but I know nothing about it. Does anyone have any experience using it for a suspensory injury? If it’s something that can help (and not hurt), I will buy it and try it, but I just don’t want to waste my money if it’s just another one of those snake oil type modalities, of which there are a LOT in the market unfortunately!

[MissAriel]

I have not tried ARC, but have successfully rehabbed from the same situation. We took it VERY slowly. 6-7 months of hand walk only, then slow and careful increase to tack walk, trotting, canter…Any time the vet said do XYZ for 2-3weeks we did 3. Keep to flat even ground as much as possible.

I was fortunate to be able to add swimming to the last month before tack walking, and during the tack walk phase.

Also redid his shoes, adding egg bars on the hinds and better trimming.

I also added red light therapy somewhere in the middle of the hand walk phase. I got this one with the battery pack. https://equinelighttherapy.com/shop-online/h1yytod0qjlpvijcmz442mri55pgq8

In the end my vet was “amazed” at the healing and lack of scar tissue. And he has never felt better!

Good luck! It is a long process, and not always easy.

[YellowPonyEventer]

Thank you so much for the info!!! It does seem like they try to return you to work so quickly and my gut feeling said to keep it slow! How old was your horse when the injury occurred? Unfortunately mine is 23 so I feel like the odds are stacked against her

[Feathered_Feet]

I would ask a different vet about PRP or stem cell injections. Any would be better than nothing, even if you don’t hit all the inflammation. My vet has injected several spots with PRP in one go.

To your original question, the theory behind it is real. But when I emailed the company asking for the studies or data showing that their device, the Arc equine itself, has demonstrable effects, they sent me some nonsense. When I asked again for the data, they went silent. I sent it back for a refund and am 85% it’s a scam with no real validation behind it.

[YellowPonyEventer]

Wow thanks for letting me know that about ARC! I sort of suspected something like that when I read their “studies” on their website and they all seem to be based on human studies, no equine at all!

And I am with you on PRP, maybe I will get a second opinion. Thanks!

[MissAriel]

@YellowPonyEventer

Thank you so much for the info!!! It does seem like they try to return you to work so quickly and my gut feeling said to keep it slow! How old was your horse when the injury occurred? Unfortunately mine is 23 so I feel like the odds are stacked against her

He was 9 at the time. My vet was very happy that we were progressing slowly. It helped that I had my own unrelated injury to rehab during the same time.

[Hightale]

I run a pro rehab facility - I’ve used the ARC on horses here on rehab and on myself - pretty pleased on both counts, but I get better / quicker results with Photizo / low level laser when it’s an injury rather than a chronic condition.
ARC kept my DSLD boy comfortable for a good while though.
If you can hire / buy an ultrasound device that’s what I’ve had the best results with on suspensories, that and making the hind feet as short as possible and trimmed / shod out of any hint of NPA otherwise you aren’t fixing anything. Also schedule in regular bodywork as there’s going to be discomfort going right up to the lumbar area.

[YellowPonyEventer]

Thank you for the insight! And yes, she gets regular chiro & acupuncture because there is definitely T-L and SI pain involved already. We injected her SI not long ago, back before the suspensory was suspected, and it definitely helped her a lot! Unfortunately that lasted 2 months and then the lameness reappeared, which is when the vet doubled down on figuring this out and discovered the hind suspensories were the issue.

[YellowPonyEventer]

Can I ask what kind of injury he had? My mare has suspensory branch desmitis in both hind legs. No lesions anywhere, just allover fiber abnormalities and swelling, with a little bit of fluid at the insertion point of 1 of her hinds.

[MissAriel]

Bilateral hind suspensory injuries. Lots of micro tears throughout but no specific lesions. Vet also didn’t recommend PRP for the same reason as yours. Intermittent mild swelling only on RH. Suspensory diameter almost double normal. After rehab, diameter is normal with minimal scar tissue. Vet considered one “almost pristine” and the other well within normal. I should have mentioned in my first post all of the rehab was monitored by ultrasound.

[YellowPonyEventer]

Thanks! That gives me hope that maybe I can get my mare to at least the point of being trail sound someday after some long rehab. At her age I don’t expect to go back to showing again sadly, even though all we did these past several years was low level dressage (Training level).