AquaPacer Underwater Treadmill System (By Ferno)

New treatments for tendons/ligament can recruit cells for better healing than scar tissue.  A controlled, closely monitored rehab program can help fibers align and decrease cross-linkage! People do rehab and don’t just sit and rest. Horses too!

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Can vary speed, time, and depth of water to provide an individualized treatment regimen. When water is up to knee/hock horse will often try to lift foot out of water, further developing upper limb muscles.

• Continuous controlled work in a straight line on a flat surface is beneficial!

• Buoyancy of up to 60% from the water reduces load on an injured area while still allowing/promoting muscle tone and development

• Water is heated and filtered

• Excellent for post-surgical cases when controlled exercise is needed-horse is suddenly taken out of work and often difficult to control with handwalking

• Also used without water with farrier to evaluate foot balance and landing as horse can be evaluated through clear glass from front and back

The AquaPacer achieves:

AquaPacer Benefits:

Digital X-ray and Ultrasound

These advanced imaging modalities also add “high-resolution on-site radiographic studies”. At EquiSport, it is often used to visually demonstrate the effectiveness of therapeutic podiatry.

These modalities have enabled the veterinarians at EquiSport  to not only attain significantly better images, but to do so immediately as well.  Unlike the old radiographic procedure where films were taken back to a dark room to be developed, digital images show up immediately on a laptop.

This enables us to assess the radiographs right there, and immediately move forward with any further diagnostic or treatment plans.

Additionally, these images can be e-mailed or burned on a CD, allowing the client to have a copy of the X-ray or ultrasound examination for his/her records.

Endoscopy

At EquiSport Therapy & Rehab,, we have both a 1-meter and 3-meter endoscope.  This allows us to examine your horse all the way from the upper airway to the stomach should we suspect gastric ulcers. 

Generally, this can all be done in the field with minimal sedation.  There is even a camera which projects the image on a screen, enabling you to view the examination as well.

IRAP Therapy
Interleukin Receptor Antagonist Protein is used in the treatment of arthritis in joints.  Interleukin-1 is a cytokine which causes cartilage cells to synthesize and secrete cartilage-degrading proteases and other cytokines. IRAP is used to prevent or slow this progression. Recent studies have shown that individual growth factors such as GF-1 are important in the regeneration of tendon and muscle injuries as well.  Since IRAP also contains these factors, it has been use as a treatment for soft tissue.

Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy

Focused shock waves are used to treat musculoskeletal disorders including tendons, ligaments, and back pain. The focused high-energy shockwave travels through skin and soft tissue. Energy is released at tissue interfaces where the density of the tissues or impedance of the sound wave changes. This leads to a cellular reaction that causes the release of various substances including BMP-2, eNos, VEGF, and PCNA. The increased blood supply to the treated tissue helps in the healing and regeneration of tendons and ligaments. It is often used concurrently with other soft tissue treatments such as stem cell, A-Cell, or platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections. 

Eurociser

The Eurociser allows your horse to get the needed amount of exercise in a controlled environment, removing the chance of injury to the horse or handler during handwalking At EquiSport, a horse can be graduated from the AquaPacer to a Eurociser to move to the next level in the therapy program.  A horse’s injury may require walking only in one direction while allowing a free trot going the other way. Our Eurociser is programmable up to 10 different speeds in either direction.

Game Ready
This unit delivers a dry cold with active compression which can be helpful as part of a treatment program for many conditions involving inflammation and soft tissue injuries.  These include acute tendon injuries, suspensory desmitis, laminitis, and splints.  Additionally, horses may benefit from this therapy to minimize swelling post-operatively in certain procedures.  Treatment sessions are customized to your horse’s needs.

EquiSport Therapy & Rehab adds Chiropractic Services

Over the years, many of our clients have asked us about chiropractic care for their animals. For the most part, we have referred or recommended several good animal chiropractors in the area. But, as the interest and utilization of animal chiropractors increased, we have seen the availability of these folks become very limited. Also, recent legal changes now require that a Veterinarian be in attendance during the treatment. 

Therefore, in order to better meet your needs, we are very pleased to announce that Casey Terribilini, D.C. will be providing chiropractic services for EquiSport Therapy & Rehab clients.  Dr. Casey is a local, well-known avid horseman (and EquiSport client) with 20 years experience as a human chiropractor. He completed the rigorous, post-graduate animal chiropractic program and is quite excited to be part of the EquiSport Therapy & Rehab family. 

Combined with our traditional care and acupuncture services, the addition of chiropractic treatment to EquiSport Therapy & Rehab will not only comply with the law, it will also offer;

Chiropractic care is a holistic approach to many of the health and performance problems of the horse.  Chiropractic does not replace traditional veterinary medicine and surgery, but provides a complimentary method of care.   

Chiropractic adjustments have proven to be useful in three key areas; detecting and treating neck and back pain, lameness and gait abnormalities, enhancement of performance in the athletic horse and as a general wellness tool.  

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Casey, he will be providing regular articles for our clients and is also available for group talks.

Please call Tina to schedule 650-851-2300

How do I know if my horse needs Chiropractic Care?

There are numerous, common stressful or traumatic situations, such as the birth process, conformation of the horse, training and riding equipment, ability of the rider, shoeing, trailers, or direct trauma, that can cause abnormal or restricted movement to occur in the spine. This change in proper movement of the spine is what chiropractors call a "subluxation". When a subluxation occurs, the horse's spine loses its normal flexibility. This results in stiffness which further leads to resistance and decreased performance.

Symptoms such as lameness, stiffness, lack of impulsion or power, difficulty in obtaining or maintaining collection, poor attitude, gait abnormalities, being cold-backed or cinchy, or the presence of muscle atrophy are commonly associated with spinal misalignments. Common complaints from horse owners include resistance or stiffness when moving to one direction, irritability, decreased performance, and sensitivity to touch, such as when being groomed. 

Subluxations may also cause changes in muscle coordination and flexibility that affects the performance ability of the horse. These symptoms may be lack of coordination in gaits, unusual, perhaps indefinable gait abnormalities which vary from limb to limb and change depending on gait, stiffness in lateral movements of neck or back, rope walking, shortened stride in one or two limbs, inability to engage rear quarters, difficulty flexing at the poll, or on line or pulling on one rein.

How does a Chiropractor adjust an animal as large as a horse?
To answer this, it is important to remember that the chiropractor is not adjusting the entire horse, but rather a specific joint in the spine. Once the initial examination has been completed, the animal chiropractor will perform an adjustment on the area of the spine affected, to return the joints to normal motion and to alleviate any muscle spasms and pain. A chiropractic adjustment is a very specific, high velocity, low force, controlled thrust by a hand, which is directed in a specific direction on a specific joint.

How many treatments will my horse need?
Several factors determine the number and frequency of adjustments required to correct a problem. The horse's age and physical condition are important; young healthy horses will generally require fewer adjustments than older horses or those with serious health problems. The severity of the problem is another major factor; if permanent damage has occurred, a return to full flexibility may not be possible, and multiple adjustments may be necessary to achieve the most flexibility possible. The length of time though problem has been present is also a factor; longstanding, or chronic problems frequently require more adjustments to correct than do acute problems.

The Veterinarian/Chiropractor Team 
Chiropractic can also offer assistance to veterinarians dealing with lameness. The goal is to find the primary source of pain, rather than treating what might be a secondary source. In equine practice, back problems and leg injuries are often inter-related. An example of this might be an acute lower limb injury causing the horse to alter his gait and carry the affected leg abnormally. 

The abnormal weight bearing and altered gait can subsequently overwork or injure associated back muscles. Back injuries can result in increased forces to the joints, resulting lameness, or gait alterations in the feet and legs, as the horse tries to protect its sore back. Unless the primary cause of the back pain is identified and treated, most horses will have recurring back pain when returned to work after a period of medication and/or rest. Chiropractic provides expertise in the evaluation of back and joint problems that can provide the veterinarian additional means of diagnosis and early treatment options in certain lameness problems; especially conservative treatment of biomechanically-related musculoskeletal disorders. 

It should be stressed that chiropractic, in no way, should be thought of as a replacement for conventional veterinary medicine, but rather as a valid, concurrent, complimentary treatment procedure for many back and lameness problems. And as with any health related problems or conditions that your horse may experience, it is important that your veterinarian be contacted initially so that he or she can assess your horse for any underlying medical condition that could be causing similar symptoms.

Stem Cell Therapy
Cells from the horse are collected either from bone marrow in the sternum or hip, or from fat near the tail of the horse. Using ultrasound, these cells are injected directly into the lesion in the tendon or ligament.

Platelet-Rich Plasma (“PRP”)
PRP is one of the latest cutting edge treatment options and can be performed “horse side” at EquiSport. Platelets contain a rich supply of growth factors that promote wound healing and regeneration of tissue. PRP amplifies the cellular responses that aid in the repair and healing of damaged tissue. Blood is collected, processed, spun down and injected right into the lesion with the aid of ultrasound. It is used abundantly in human medicine in the treatment of elbow tendinitis (tennis elbow), knee tendinitis, and Achilles tendon repairs.

A-Cell Therapy
A-Cell is a non-cellular matrix derived from the lining of pig bladders! However, it has been very useful in setting up a “scaffolding” in a lesion for new cells to use. This scaffold is gradually degraded and resorbed, leaving only new tissue where scar tissue would have been the typical healing response.

Tildren Therapy
Tildren therapy is now available in the United States to veterinarians who undergo special licensure. EquiSport uses Tildren to suppress the activity of the cells that eat away at bone, which is a painful process.  Historically, it has been used in the United States and abroad to treat osteoporosis in women. Treatment consists of a single dose given IV over about 1 hour. Benefits are generally seen in 3-5 weeks. A smaller dose can then be given monthly or bi-monthly as part of a maintenance program.