PEMF question

[HoofHeartSoul]

Hello all,
My horse is getting PEMF therapy full body + for his advanced arthritis in his knee.

His carpal arthritis is so advanced bone on bone that it is forming boney califications on and in the joint to try and fuse the joint.

I know PEMF can help stimulate bone growth, so am I speeding up his loss of range of motion ( ROM) ? It seems to take some of his pain away after but then he seems to stiffen up more ( loss of ROM) after a couple days, seemingly making it worse…

Should I skip the PEMF on his knee to avoid the speeding up of the calcification and focus on preserving what little ROM he has left?

[TWH_Girl]

I’ve used magnawave, but it’s really best as an adjunct therapy more for muscles vs joints IMO. It won’t do much to help arthritis. Perhaps shockwave or joint injection would be of better benefit. Also ask your vet about daily Equioxx as the arthritis sounds fairly advanced and painful.

[Feathered_Feet]

First of all, thank you for introducing the acronym ROM before using it. You are the best kind of person

Secondly, I have no direct experience with this issue, but after a cursory look, there is a lot of published evidence to suggest PEMF is helpful for several different types of arthritis. Now, these are mostly studies in humans or other non-equine animals, but this is a situation where I think the findings probably generalize quite well. That being said, if your horse is telling you it’s not working for him, then I would believe him, provided there is nothing else that might explain the stiffness a few days later.

Thirdly, a horse at our barn with spinal/SI arthritis seems to be responding really well to regular PEMF therapy, so there’s that.

Finally, I would highly recommend asking your vet. It’s entirely possible this anonymous poster (i.e., me, who is a scientist but not a vet!) is wrong

[HoofHeartSoul]

No worries. My guys is most pampered. Adequan,equioxx,sore no more, Back On Track( BOT), etc. I was just curious if the PEMF was hastening the calcification of his knee therefore making it stiffer and stiffer rather than delaying the progression. Hoping I am wording this question correctly. Thank you for your reply.

[HoofHeartSoul]

Thank you! I appreciate your very informative reply. I will do just that!

P.S I am glad you liked my acronym introduction, I hate having to Google and go through acronyms to find which one is being referenced, so I figured others might too!

[Pico_Banana]

Let me know if you end up using it!

I have a senior horse with arthritis and recently posted about using Equioxx long term for her. Someone recommended using this: https://equinelighttherapy.com/

I am really considering trying it, especially since it has a trial period. I have arthritis in my back so I was thinking I could use it on me as well as my senior horse, which (1) helps to justify the price, and (2) might give me more confidence that it’s actually doing something if I can feel it working for myself.

I was at Equine Affaire this year and tried a different light modality for about 5 minutes when I was there on my hand, which has a lot of inflammation. It actually made my hand feel better so I’m more open to the idea of light therapy than I previously was.

[greywithchrome]

I have the small pad from the company linked above and I have used it mostly on my horse’s stifle. She definitely likes it, and I do think it loosens up the muscles a bit and makes her more comfortable. I am not sure that it has any “long term” effect but doing it right before I work her has appeared to be beneficial.

[RAyers]

My advisor is one who investigated PEMF and bone growth in the 1990s. The fact the “clinical” PEMF machines could stimulate bone growth is a complete fallacy.

We had to put animals in cages that looked more like transformers than cages and have them live in massive pulsed magnetic fields (more like pulsed 3 tesla MRI) for weeks before significant changes in bone growth were noted.

Any PEMF you could do would barely affect any bone, even if the system was left on continuously for days. Use PEMF if you want and don’t worry about the bone.