Soft Tissue Injury Rehab 2020: Game Ready vs Zamar vs Ice Horse; ArcEquine or no; Theraplate vs VitaFloor or no; etc

[blacksheep]

I apologize for rehashing old topics, but after searching past threads, I’d love to know if anyone has recent/changed insights, anecdotes, or evidence on any of this stuff!

Do we still agree with cryotherapy + compression as a great tool (along with vet’s prescribed treatment plan) for ligament and tendon injuries? Based on my search, Zamar seemed most preferred for cryotherapy. Do any of y’all still love and use yours? or Game Ready? Or the Ice Horse cold therapy machine? Do the machines hold up to frequent use as long as not abused?

What about the ArcEquine? Is the jury still out or has anyone had any recent success with it?

Finally, vibrating plates: Possibly damaging? Not enough science? Anyone love and use theirs still, and if so, which brand?

Am I missing anything newer that’s awesome and worthy of a shout?

I have BOT wraps, I use ice boots, and if my vet recommends plasma, shockwave, steroids, etc, I tend to go with him. It would be super helpful to know what’s currently working for everyone as this has been an unprecedented year of injury for my crew… we’ve had trauma (hung leg over walker gate), PSD, a fractured skull (baby whacked head on fence), discovery of an old branch suspensory injury (missed/ mistaken in pre-purchase exam for a foot balance issue :no:); three failed embryo transfers, and my own personal drama: A massive hematoma (still loud and proud three months later!) after a baby bucked me off into a fence post. Thankfully everyone’s ok and either recovered or hopefully on the road to recovery (dare I say that for fear of tempting fate :eek:), but it’s been eye-opening.

Now that I’m starting to recover from the vet bills, I’m interested in investing in one or possibly two of the above systems. I’m also mildly traumatized and channeling anxiety over all the recent WTF into something productive/preventative for the horses helps me sleep better, so, you know. Thanks :lol:

[StormyDay]

I can’t give any horse related feedback on these, but I can say that for my personal soft tissue injuries the vibration plates were wonderful. I tore my ACL, meniscus, and damaged both plantar fascia. A few minutes on those and I felt amazing. It’s been studied more in people and there seems to be good results, especially with improving blood flow to lower limbs.

[Critter]

I’ve used a Zamar with really good results for soft tissue injuries and with a splint bone fracture. It’s an awesome machine. The benefit with Zamar is you can do hot or cold and you control the exact temp…plus it is fully contained, so you only need an electric source (not the case with Game Ready). I’ve actually used the Zamar on myself! LOL I will say the downside to the Zamar over an ice boot is you need horses that are happy to stand quietly with the hoses that are attached to the machine…not so easy with sensitive baby horses. I’m debating selling mine, since I am not using it with having only young horses. Murphy’s Law if I sell it, I will need it though!

I also last year invested in a used Activo-med Combi blanket that does massage and PEMF. My gelding loves this blanket and I can feel a difference when I use it. I’m getting a lot of use out of mine…and the company has some good used ones that they check out and tune up.

[beau159]

@blacksheep

Do we still agree with cryotherapy + compression as a great tool (along with vet’s prescribed treatment plan) for ligament and tendon injuries? Based on my search, Zamar seemed most preferred for cryotherapy. Do any of y’all still love and use yours? or Game Ready? Or the Ice Horse cold therapy machine? Do the machines hold up to frequent use as long as not abused?

What about the ArcEquine? Is the jury still out or has anyone had any recent success with it?

Finally, vibrating plates: Possibly damaging? Not enough science? Anyone love and use theirs still, and if so, which brand?

Am I missing anything newer that’s awesome and worthy of a shout?

I have BOT wraps, I use ice boots, and if my vet recommends plasma, shockwave, steroids, etc, I tend to go with him. It would be super helpful to know what’s currently working for everyone as this has been an unprecedented year of injury for my crew…

Add PEMF treatments to your list. I am certain that is what finally helped my Red’s tendon injury to heal. But go to someone with a real medical machine … not the MagnaWave. The MagnaWave has limitations because you can’t completely customize the settings/treatment. Not that it can’t still give benefit, but if I am going to shell out money for treatments, I want someone that is trained in it and knows what they are doing and custom treatments for my horse’s issues.

My horse Red (we assume) probably slipped on the ice in the spring of 2018 and created a tear in the deep digital flexor tendon, but above the pasture (nothing below). I chose not to go the stall rest method and instead left him turned out in the pasture at my parent’s place. Recheck the ultrasound about 4 months later and was maybe about half healed. Checked again about 6 months later and small improvements but still not healed. At that point the vet cleared him for easy riding. I started doing PEMF treatments on him. Went back to the vet about 2 months later and HEALED. Sure, he is scarred and there’s a permanent bump there, but he’s sound and it doesn’t bother him. And he’s successfully returned to barrel racing this year in 2020.

[Pally]

Ugh. The first barn I groomed for had a Zamar and I routinely threatened to push it into a canal… the darn thing hardly ever worked. Their GameReady had long been shelved (for unreliability) before I even got there, as were many other units I saw/talked to people about. Oh, and I know it wasn’t on your list, but you can add Centurion Borealis to the list of fancy, expensive ice machines I’ve tried that wouldn’t work consistently.

In each of those cases, we ended up going back to an ice boot. Look around FEI jumpers now, I see tons of ice boots and no ice machines, so I don’t think it’s just me. Yeah, it may not be high-tech or have the added bells and whistles, but it’s really easy to tell if one is actually cold or not. Plus, to get it to BE cold, you just need a freezer/ice… not a prayer to the gods and the right alignment of stars.

So my advice to you is get a little freezer for the barn if you don’t already, maybe pick up some extra ice boots (These are popular/work well, but you could also try equifits or icevibes if you are determined to try compression) since it sounds like you have enough booboos to need a rotation of boots right now. On that note, you might also want to stash a bottle of tequila in your freezer…:lol:

Then if you are still determined to spend lots of money on something nice for the horses (and you) I recommend picking up a magnetic blanket or laser. Not going to help you with Cryotherapy, but at least they function as intended.

[joiedevie99]

@Pally Ditto on the ice boots! We have the extra-long version with five straps from Dura-Tech. Every other ice boot/system sits on the shelf.

I had a suspensory branch this year. Vet did shockwave and stem cells. We also did ice boot, the Bemer cuff and Theraplate. This was obviously on top of a careful controlled exercise program. Who knows what did the trick, but he’s back in full FEI work 4 months before the initial estimate, and he ultrasounds clean - no scar tissue, no evidence of the injury at all. Maybe none of it did the trick and he’s just a good healer.

[Simkie]

When I was rehabbing a pair of bowed tendons, I went the 9 pocket ice boot route, and picked up ice from Sonic every day.

I have a Game Ready for myself and while I think it’s about the coolest (hahahaha) thing ever, there is zero chance it will ever go to the barn. It’s too expensive to risk. I did pick up a cheaper knock off compression + ice machine called the Breg VPulse when dealing with cellulitis hell, and it was…maybe effective? It definitely cooled the leg. But my easy going horse just barely tolerated it, and there’s no way the more challenging ones would, at least not without sedation.

[Critter]

Interesting…I’ve not had any issues with my Zamar (except learning to translate Italian for the controls! LOL)…it’s been super reliable. And I used Game Ready when I worked in outpatient PT and never had much issue with the units there either.

[Pally]

@Critter

Interesting…I’ve not had any issues with my Zamar (except learning to translate Italian for the controls! LOL)…it’s been super reliable. And I used Game Ready when I worked in outpatient PT and never had much issue with the units there either.

I dunno. Ours was the only Zamar I ever saw, so maybe we just got unlucky. But a lot of barns had GameReady units, and I heard about a lot of frustrations for them. Maybe the dirt & barn life was too much for them? I also just observe I don’t see many ice machines being hauled around to shows anymore (freezers, though…) on the h/j scene, and it’s not that there isn’t money to be spent. After all, I think (certainly wasn’t the one writing the cheques) that for the cost of the Zamar you could pretty much buy yourself a shockwave unit. I’m not going to say it will “pay for itself” in house, but it will actually cut down on vet bills if you are having them out to shockwave often. I don’t recall what a GameReady costs these days but I’m sure you could get a decent cold laser for the same price, and that might be more versatile.