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Talk me down - bone bruise

Horse Care
#1

Inner front cannon bone, far enough away from knee that future joint problems are not even on the radar. Have had an initial set of (ugly) rads done to confirm the above.

What I’m interested in is what folks have done for recovery, and then ugh, rehab. Horse is mature at 12, healthy, fit, has otherwise perfectly clean legs, and is miserable. Stall rest is going really well. So far no walls or other parts of horse have been injured :slight_smile: just a lot of sad blue face. Second set of pictures will be taken early next week.

Tell me what to expect wise and experienced CoTHers.

#2

Bones can bruise badly and take a LONG time to heal. Size of the bruised area, and depth, are all factors in how long that is.

What happened, do you know? That might give some idea of the force.

What therapies are you using? Is there a reason he’s on stall rest? Sometimes movement helps speed things up with increased blood flow. Not that bones get a lot, but every little bit helps.

#3

Not a horse but I had a bad one in my knee when a horse fell on it. It took a few months of light activity and i can still feel weather changes before they happen. I would just give it time.

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#4

Also not a horse but I had a bad one at the top of my humerus that took 9 months before I could go about my day and exercise and not think about that shoulder. It should heal well but can take a long time. My doctor told me that it takes even longer in fit people (his first estimate was 4-6 months then revised and said yeah could take 8 or more), so I wonder if it is that slow (or likely slower) in the horse.

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#5

My experience with bone bruises has not been good. Two different horses. In both cases bone bruise wasn’t severe enough to show up on digital radiographs. MRI was needed in both cases for diagnosis. Both horses were rested for over a year, but were unable to return to full work and were retired. One was a mid five figure hunter. The other was a six figure fancy hunter. Hoping your prognosis (and outcome) is better than ours. :slight_smile:

#6

My friends mare had one of the most severe bone bruises our vets had ever seen. This happened 11 months ago and she’s just stated back to full work and is looking great. She was on stall rest for I believe 2 months, then turnout in a small rehab paddock for 7 months during which she had some osphos treatments. After 8 months she had the go ahead to start getting on and just walking, increasing by 5 mins each week and now she’s started jumping again and is looking great! Due to a past ligament injury she will not go back to the bigger jumps but the bone bruise is healed and they figure she’ll easily jump 3ft again.

#7

I wish we knew what happened. She is turned out in a large field with a couple of other young mares that respect her status as Empress of the Universe Who shall not be trifles with so a kick is highly unlikely. Maybe a rolling incident of clacking a shod foot against the other leg? Your guess is as good as mine .

Anti-inflammatories, wrapping, and twice daily hand walking so far until we get a better idea/confirmation from the next set of rads. Pony pants is very crippled (pea heart and she really doesn’t understand skeletal pain because she’s never had it before) so we are being extremely cautious for the moment. That plus it first appeared to be a sequestrum. :o The other complication to turnout is she is crap in a small paddock so that will be interesting when the time comes to release her from jail.

A long time is OK for recovery, she’s worth it .I just want to do whatever I can to get the best possible outcome :slight_smile:

#8

I dealt with this last year but bone bruise on top on his ankle area Showed on xray. No stall rest, but small paddock with a friend. Few months off, then walking in long lines and pony rides at walk. Came back w/t work Jan/feb. Since middle of Feb back in full easy work. 30 minutes rides. His wasn’t awful.

#9

Bone bruises are incredibly painful. Aside from the one I had in my shoulder that was so bad we were thinking I was going to need surgery until the MRI showed the bruise, I am prone to them in one ankle thanks to some messed up cartilage. I am quite lame when dealing with that. So, she may not be being overly dramatic given how much weight has to be supported by that relatively little bone.

#10

Wow, poor girl to be so lame :frowning:

When was the last xray? If it’s been long enough I’d xray again to make sure a sequestrum hasn’t developed. It can take quite a while sometimes for bone to die and start breaking off.

#11

What exactly is a bone bruise? What would it look like on an X-ray? If it is on the bone, how would it show up in an MRI?

#12

First sign of lameness last Thursday. Lump and increased lameness Friday. Rads Tuesday .more rads this coming week .

#13

Ah ok, I didn’t realize it was just 10-ish days old. The lameness is hopefully just from the acute nature of the injury, much like some popped splints can be painful, hot, swollen for even a few weeks

How inside the leg? Could the long extensor tendon have gotten bruised too?

#14

Similar to a flesh bruise but not lol. Have you ever whacked your shin with a hammer? I imagine that’s what it would feel like lol On my horse’s xray looking at it head on it looks like a little quarter moon protrusion. Ugly :frowning: I imagine it would light up like a Christmas tree on MRI, maybe?

#15

Yes, it’s still new.

Absolutely no reaction to any soft tissue palpation, so at this point we’re thinking no tendon involvement. Will do US at next appointment too to get a better look at all structures in the vicinity. As far as my lay eye says, it is in about the best possible spot. If you made a circle round the leg with dead front being 0, the injury is a little more anterior than 90 by a degree or 2. Ish .take that image with a dose of Ish because I’m not standing out the with a protractor at the moment .

#16

Hmmm, possible she involved the splint bone then? But the original xray showed no break? Could any swelling have been hiding a fracture? Glad you’re getting new rads coming up.

#17

The rads have been looked at by a surgeon already and she said from initial rads no break and not a sequestrum (yet). But as we know with horses, initial pix sometimes don’t spill all the beans.

If you’re interested in taking a look at the first set I’d be happy to email/pm them to you.

#18

My gelding (19 yo draft cross) fell on top of me three and a half years ago at a dead run. He tried really hard not to fall, and in the scramble, came down hard on his front left. My leg was crushed under him, but the soft-ish ground kept me from serious injury.

For me, my knee was badly bruised. Took almost a year for it to not be tender to the touch on the inside where the saddle caught me.

Even 6 months after the accident, my horse’s cannon bone still showed significant inflammation. (My vet actually thought it looked like bone cancer until we got a University to take a second look) They confirmed injury/inflammation.

He has been retired since the accident and only now is showing promising signs that he may recover enough for some light work.

My vet had me try stall rest for an extended period, but he just got more sore/stiff, so I opened his pen and gave him more room. I put him in with a buddy for a while, but it was too much for him, so he has been on his own in about a 1/2 acre paddock for some time. I learned that he does better with some movement, but there is definitely a line we cannot cross. I keep his feet trimmed regularly, toes are nice and short, and he is on SmartFlex (only thing that seems to help knock the edge off). We are finally at a place where he no longer noticeable limps, and I am going to start hand-walking him a few times a week to see how well he tolerates some extra movement. At best, I hope to get him/keep him sound enough to use in a kids-therapy program I work with.

Bone injuries can take a very long time to heal. Don’t rush it.

#19

Bone bruising will look like a white spot in bone on MRI, so you are correct.

#20

Or maybe my sense of what 90 degrees is is a little off? :smiley: Actually from today’s pix, it looks like it’s right in/near where the interosseous ligament was/is and not smack on the cannon bone where we thought it was. So, yeah, my grown up horse has decided to have a baby horse injury. Ugh. Good news is it looks to have reduced slightly. The rads will get sent to the surgeon again so I hope to have more info in a day or two. She is sounder, but not sound sound, so that is also a relief even if I just want her to magically be 100% right this minute lol

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