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Experiences w/ Suspensory Rehab

Same, same :rofl:

Oh I like gadgets and things too, I had a lot of BoT at one point (where is it now…?), but what I really want is a thermaplate, because clearly I have money to burn :rofl::rofl::rofl:

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I went through a hind suspensory almost 3 years ago and was told by the surgeon at Hagyard not to use PEMF. I did PRP and shockwave and a Class IV cold laser and was told by the surgeon and the vet who did the shockwave and the laser tech that PEMF was counterindicated. I could do it later if I wanted to later, but not in the first 4-6 months if I remember correctly. I never independently researched it though.

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This is really interesting. Thank you for sharing.

It is like Mary Kay! Drives me crazy. PEMF is a good modality, but not for everything. I hate that people are using it indiscriminately on everything (and nothing). There is some literature, but most is in humans or mice. It can help bone healing and inflammation in general. Pretty much all horse data is anecdotal.

I have a unit, I use it, but not on everything. I don’t have a BEMER, rather a small portable unit (much cheaper).

You can overpower an animal with the BEMER and they don’t like it. The smaller ones are more tolerable

My old arthritic dog (who should love it) absolutely hates PEMF. He will run away if he sees the unit. This tells me it is not an innocuous therapy.

It also needs to be used frequently for results, so going and paying good money for someone to BEMER you horse every few months is probably a waste.

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Here is a nice review of the use of PEMF in vet med

Veterinary applications of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy - ScienceDirect

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Thank you!!!

What cold laser did you use?

Has anyone tried red light therapy on a suspensory injury? I’m dealing with a minor one but have been eyeing one of the According to Gospel ones for a few months . . .

I would save your money. The suspensories are so deep in the leg that I can’t see any way the red light would penetrate. Now if you get surgery, that would be useful on the incisions (which is what I did). But I would save your money (and time spent waiting for the red light to work).

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I bought a red light for my horse. I don’t remember the brand but it did nothing.

I just want to cry. At our previous ultrasound check everything was going great, lots of healing… and then this month it looks worse than it started in some ways. Edema is down significantly (good) and there is still plenty of remodeling (good), but the area of the injury is significantly larger (I don’t need to tell you, that’s not good). We are looking at another 4 months of hand walking (it has already been 3).

In the meantime, trying to “stay in shape” I got bucked of another horse and broke my back. I find out Tues whether I need surgery and what MY rehab timeline might be.

At this point I’m considering “go big or go home” - send him to rehab facility, PRP, Shockwave, etc.

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I’m so sorry.

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I’m so sorry. Healing vibes to you both. That’s so rough.

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My goodness I was feeling bad about my situation, (senior horse with hind suspensory rupture after spending 6 months in stall healing from medial collateral ligament tear) but at least only the horse needs rehabbing. May you heal quickly and well!

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@MissAriel how are things going for you?

How are things going for everyone else?

I’m so glad this thread exists. I’m going to join the club. My young mare was just diagnosed with hind bilateral proximal suspensories RH>LH. Some bone remodeling involved on the RH. No one huge tear, just lots of little ones.

We started on the rehab train yesterday. This is just the worst. :frowning:

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@AAHunterGal - sorry to hear you are dealing with this too!

We had some good check ups, then when I thought we would be cleared to start tack walking, we had a setback - still too much tissue reordering for my vet, so 2 more months of hand walking. :cry:

To add insult to injury (or more accurately, injury to injury) right before this bad news, I had a bad fall from another horse and ended up with a broken vertebra. So we are healing together.

Looking forward to his next appointment after the holidays - fingers crossed for progress and the beginning of tack walking - for him at least. I’m not allowed on a horse until at least March, but at least i am starting PT now.

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When is the appointment, now that we’re almost post-holidays? Going to have my fingers crossed massively for you! Sorry to hear about your own rehab too.

It’s been three months since the all clear and I’ve been taking it really slow, probably too slow. Walk/trot, interspersed with canter, trot polework. I’d love to have her fully in shape for the end of spring.

This morning I took her out to do hillwork in-hand - gotta get my rear in gear after the holidays too so figured I could stand to walk them as well. As we were walking, SIX deer streaked by us. She handled it brilliantly. Two of the bucks started fighting each other right near us and, understandably that set her off and she did a quick spook, lost her footing behind a bit and then spun around me in a tight circle so I am of course now envisioning that she’s pulled it all over again… Ah, horses!

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My boy’s checkup was today, and good news! Healing is progressing with lots of good fibers. Given that he is at a facility that offers swimming and I’m still a ways from being able to ride, we are going to start with swimming this week and hold off on tack walking another month :slightly_smiling_face:

Horse gets better rehab and PT than I do! :joy:

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I also am in the middle of a suspensory rehab - left hind. Happened in October. We were doing great, did 3 shockwaves, up to 45 minutes of walking, and had just been cleared to start adding in trot work when she spooked herself and managed some impressive cantering and bucking even in a medical paddock. Sigh. I took her back to 30 minutes of walking and we are now finally back up to 45 minutes. Plan to have vet back out for another ultrasound soon. Might try some short bursts of trot before then but we’ll see.

Very hard to stay positive when it seems like it’s one step forward, two steps back a lot of the time.

Did your horse come up lame/hot after the shenanigans? Knocking on wood, mine has semi-regular tantrums in his medical paddock and has seemed okay so far. We recheck this week before going to trot. Just curious what you saw!

I didn’t trot her out to see, but she looked NQR. It was very slight, but there. Also, she did seem to have more swelling in the leg afterward - not immediately after the incident, but she tends to stock up when she isn’t out in a big field during the day, and the stocking up was worse in that leg after the incident. It’s been three weeks since the incident and I feel like the stocking up has just in the last day or so gone back to “normal” so both hind legs look the same again. She’s also now back to looking like she might want to trot during our walks, so that’s a positive sign.

I know I am a worrywort about these things, but I’d rather be conservative and err on the side of too slow rather than too fast.

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