Combination Therapies in the Equine Athlete

When evaluating the equine athlete, we must first make sure nutrition, foot care and tooth care are adequate, as well as properly fitted tack and a balanced rider. Each of these factors can hugely affect any outcomes so the basics must be covered before we move on to therapies.

Once we evaluate the gait and overall motion of the horse, on lead as well as under saddle, we can then make the decision on therapy. With the equine athlete, they are usually overall healthy with adequate basic care. Typically they will have a history of repetitive stress injuries to their musculoskeletal system with an “acute injury” that has caused the animal to be presented to the veterinarian or animal therapist for care. As a veterinarian, we will rule out underlying diseases that may have predisposed the horse to the acquired injuries, but these are truly much rarer than in the small companion domestic animals. Conventional care can then provide surgery and medicine to repair and reduce pain, infection, etc. and beyond that we must really look to the vast array of rehabilitative or “alternative” therapies to maximize healing.

Our basic evaluation will include a diagnostic evaluation using the non-manual animal adjusting technique called Veterinary Orthopedic Manipulation^TM (VOM^TM) (refer to dr-trish.com or vomtech.com) to direct us to injured or stresses areas of the spinal column that have compromised the health of the peripheral areas of the body. Combining our movement analysis and our palpation, as well as the history of this horse, its use, and any previous health and injury issues, we can plan how to maximally return this horse to a performance level and as quickly as possible.

Starting with completing the VOM, we then relieve fascial tension from the area using Myofascial Release (MFR) techniques. Some amount of muscle work will follow to restructure any fibrotic tissue that could be binding up the area and to begin to restore range of motion to all joints possible. Sound wave therapy called Alphasonic (MakePainGoAway.com or Alphasonic.com), massage and stretching techniques, as well as ground work or under saddle work may be given to incorporate into training to rehabilitate any muscles that have weakened due to disuse or imbalanced use, as well as to tone down the overcompensated muscles that often have recurring spasms. Homeopathics can be added to aid healing and more quickly reduce pain and swelling, if necessary. Acupuncture may be added if deemed necessary.

To maximally advance the healing pathway of all of these combined modalities, we can add Veterinary Low Level Laser or Cold Laser (refer to dr-trish.com, vomtech.com/vetcoldlaser, and erchonia.com). This therapy allows us to rehabilitate cells at the level of the mitochondrial DNA to return individual cells back to health, giving more cells the ability to respond to the basic therapies.

While Low Level or Cold Laser therapy has been used in human medicine for over 40 years with no noted side effects in over 2000 professionally published studies, it has only really moved into the veterinary field in the last 5-7 years and is looking to provide the same phenomenal healing qualities to our animals as it has for the top athletes of the world. Lance Armstrong has used cold laser his entire career and Tiger Woods added it to his standard training years ago.

Our goal is to not only optimally heal your athlete but to also do it in the shortest time possible as a day out of training can be a week getting back to performance level and we realize this. Your horse’s evaluation will be discussed to let you know a general plan, costs and timeline.

An initial VOM evaluation and adjustment is typically $180 with each follow-up VOM being $150. This includes all other MFR and muscle work, as well as a plan for any stretching and exercise plans. The cold laser is priced at $40 per treatment. Cold Laser therapy provides optimal effect when given twice a day with each VOM and other therapies. These visits would be once a week for three weeks with VOM, MFR, muscle work, sound wave and basic massage (if needed) with cold laser, if chosen. Acupuncture and homeopathics are individually priced by components used.

A comprehensive package of care can be prepaid providing a savings.

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