Equine Sport Therapy - Goals of Therapy

Pain Reduction

This can mean a reduction in the amount of medication necessary for pain relief or it can mean pain control solely through the use of the therapeutic modality. We need to be able to select the most appropriate technique and modality for the situation.

Restore Range of Motion

Restoration of complete range of movement of a joint. The pain of injury or surgery often leaves a joint immobile. Over a period of time this immobility results in contractions in the soft tissue around the joint. Shortening and stiffening of these structures will cause immobility long after the pain is gone. Inactivity or box-rest can lead to a loss of function as muscles atrophy and adhesions form in the injured area.

Manual stretching exercises can reduce the loss of function if box rest is essential. Stretching exercises should be an essential part of all rehabilitation work to elongate the connective and contractile tissues and avoid contractures as the horse guards the injured part through recovery. If a program of flexibility exercises is begun immediately after surgery or injury normal range of movement can be maintained.

Restore strength

After injury a body part will require some rest in order to repair itself. Unfortunately this rest leads to disuse atrophy in the surrounding musculature. Weakened muscles are vulnerable to injury themselves and they set the stage for re-injury when there is a return to activity.

Injury prevention

This area still remains relatively unexplored in equine sports medicine - there is still much to learn about how to optimally condition the horse for his work or sport. It remains important to be aware of or discover injury while it is most readily treatable. Many therapies and modalities are non-invasive in nature and are most effective in the early stages of the injury process. Once a horse is visibly lame an on-going process must be reversed. Rehabilitation is a much more challenging task at this stage.