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Equine Spa Therapy:Common questions answered |
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONSWhat is hydrotherapy?Why is it different to swimming or aqua treadmills? What does it treat? What is the Veterinary view of this treatment? Can it help long-standing conditions like laminitis? My horse has a leg injury - how can it help? How frequently should my horse be treated? Can it be used with treatment my horse is already receiving? My horse isn’t lame - why should I use it? Should I use the spa before or after competitions? If I use the spa only once will it have any effect? How long do the effects of spa-ing last? What is hydrotherapy? Hydrotherapy in it’s simplest form means therapy using water (hydro). There are a number of hydrotherapy treatments and ours specialises in the use of chilled, aerated salt water. Salt water therapy uses a number of factors - very cold temperatures, very strong concentration of sea salt and epsom salts, massage and high levels of dissolved oxygen. These factors combine to improve circulation, flushing away excess fluids and toxins whilst providing all the nutrients to heal injuries and develop strong new tissue. Why is it different to swimming or aqua treadmills? Hydrotherapy spa’s are designed to promote the process of healing during the acute stage of the injury (immediately after the injury whilst healing is occurring). It also supports the maintenance of healthy limbs by treating microscopic lesions as they occur, preventing the development of a more major injury. Both swimming and aqua treadmills are designed for horses in the post-acute stages of injury rehabilitation (once the healing process is almost over) to address muscle wastage which has occurred during the layoff associated with an injury. Swimming and aqua-treadmills may also form part of a training programme for fit, healthy horses to enable exercise without having the full weight of the horse on it’s limbs the whole time. Swimming or aqua-treadmills may be used as a follow-on treatment to spa-ing to prepare the horse for work again, once the injury has been resolved by the spa. What does it treat? Hydrotherapy spa’s treat the majority of lower limb conditions. The water level within the spa can be raised to the mid-forearm/mid-thigh to enable treatment of structures of the lower limb from the knee/hock down. Due to the anti-inflammatory (anti-swelling), analgesic (pain-relief) and sterilising properties of the spa it can have positive results with everything from trauma wounds such as kicks, through tendon and suspensory injuries, through to chronic conditions such as laminitis and navicular syndrome. What is the Veterinary view of this treatment? Although hydrotherapy spa’s have only been used in the UK for the past 4 years and have only become nationally available in the last 2 years, a wider recognition of the role hydrotherapy can play as part of a treatment regime is occurring. More and more vets have had personal experience of the effects that spa treatment can have on both new injuries, and on ones which have failed to respond to conventional therapies. Because hydrotherapy spa treatment can operate alongside traditional remedies and has no side-effects, vets are taking advantage of the ’no lose’ situation with this form of treatment - they can continue using the protocols they have experience of, whilst introducing spa therapy alongside to speed recovery. In addition, insurance companies are recognising the benefits of hydrotherapy and have recommended hydrotherapy treatment to their customers. Can it help long-standing conditions like laminitis? Yes - the hydrotherapy spa is beginning to be acknowledged by farriers and vets alike to provide excellent pain relief for acute and chronic laminitis sufferers. Laminitis is failure of the connective tissue attachment apparatus that normally suspends the distal phalanx (coffin bone) from the epidermal lamellae of the inner hoof wall. The enzyme, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) normally serves the equine well in its natural environment by reshaping the continually growing hoof wall, however, a problem (laminitis) arises when MMP control and balance is lost and increased MMP leads to destruction of the attachment between hoof and bone. The disappearance of small attachment discs called hemidesmosomes through limited amounts of glucose available to lamellar hoof also destroys attachments between hoof and bone. This is extremely painful as the bone is then free to rotate downwards resulting in the potential piercing of the sole. This separation and rotation of the pedal bone is termed ‘Founder’. In addition to pain relief, the hydrotherapy spa can actually prevent laminitis where immediate treatment can be provided following exposure to potentially laminitis inducing feed. Studies by Pollitt et al. (2003) investigated the use of cryotherapy (cold therapy with iced water 5-10 degrees Celsius) in the prevention of the on set of laminitis in those horses that are subjected to conditions that predispose them to the disease. It was found that cryotherapy when applied to the distal limb prevented the onset of laminitis and acts to inhibit MMP enzyme production and activity, even if triggering factors are present. It has been found that metabolic enzymatic activity decreases by approximately 50% when tissue temperature is lowered by 10 degrees Celsius (45). Follow up studies have found that hydrotherapy spa treatment can result in a decrease in hoof temperature of about 15 degrees Celsius, suggesting that tissue temperature would have been lowered further than in the Pollitt studies and enzyme activity decreased further, thus reducing lamellae separation. The reduction in MMP through hydrotherapy spa treatment in laminitis prone horses would reduce or stop the destruction of attachments between hoof and bone and may help to prevent the rotation of the pedal bone. The spa has the added bonus that the therapeutic effects achieved are prolonged for hours. Hoof wall temperatures when examined at The Centre did not rise more than 1 degree Celsius in 1 hour after spa treatment, which is longer compared to other products used to achieve cooling. Laminitis is a very painful condition, the spa treatment produces a local analgesic effect due to the fact that the water is held between 2-4 degrees Celsius, which produces drug free prolonged pain relief for the horse. Post laminitis, hydrotherapy spa treatment causes hoof re-growth to re-align to the sensitive laminae and together with corrective trimming to encourage strong realignment onto the sensitive laminar, to provide enormous relief for the horse. Increased hoof growth has been found to occur with spa treatment at a more regulated rate, this combined with regular corrective subtle trimming can produce a better hoof position and realignment of the laminar quicker. My horse has a leg injury - how can it help? Firstly your vet needs to diagnose what the leg injury is. It could be bone, ligament, tendon, muscle, skin or hoof injury. We need to have a view from your vet as to the type of injury and severity of it and to discuss with them the part hydrotherapy could play in the treatment regime. Salt water hydrotherapy treats the majority of lower limb conditions. How frequently should my horse be treated? This will vary considerably depending on the circumstances relating to each horse. A healthy horse in moderate work will benefit from a single spa session once a month, however to maintain peak fitness for a horse in full work, once per fortnight or once per week would be ideal. You can book for a ‘walk through’ where you bring your horse for a session and then take it home again immediately afterwards. For horses suffering from a lameness issue the frequency of spa-ing could increase to as much as once per day, or even twice per day for large open wounds. This treatment would need to be done on a residential basis as it is likely to be undesirable to constantly travel an injured horse daily for treatment. Can it be used with treatment my horse is already receiving? Your vet would need to confirm that the spa benefits would not conflict with the effects of the drugs being prescribed before your horse is spa’d, however, it is extremely unlikely that there would be any conflict, especially as hydrotherapy is drug-free. My horse isn’t lame - why should I use it? Many elite sportsman and women regularly bathe in cold water to help prepare for competition and take the plunge again once finished to protect against injury. Paula Ratcliffe, the long-distance runner is well known for her strict regime of cold water bathing. This type of treatment has now made the transition into the equestrian world with many professionals utilising hydrotherapy spa’s as part of their regular health and fitness programme for their horses. Should I use the spa before or after competitions? Because of both the injury prevention and curative properties of the spa, horses would benefit most from being spa’d both before and after competition. Beforehand the anti-inflammatory effects and deep cooling will help to dissipate any fluids in the joints and reduce any niggling aches the horse may have, enabling it to perform at its optimum. After competition has finished, a session in the spa will cool the legs, providing instant comfort as well as delivering oxygen rich water to areas where damage may have occurred enabling the healing process to be kick-started and any over-excessive inflammatory response to be contained. If I use the spa only once will it have any effect? Because the spa addresses a number of areas so effectively, even a single spa session can boost healing, relieve pain and promote the development of healthy tissue. Some conditions even show a marked improvement after just one session. How long do the effects of spa-ing last? Healthy tissue will remain cold for over 12 hours after a spa session, however, sites of injuries will feel warm even immediately after spa-ing has finished. This is due to the constant heat produced from a site of injury, due to the body’s inflammatory response to damage. This can be quite helpful in pinpointing the exact site of the injury especially with tendons. The effect of the spa will be to reduce the intensity of the inflammatory response for several hours enabling further damage to surrounding tissues to be prevented as a result of the excessive swelling. Excess fluids and cell debris released as part of the inflammatory response are also swept away by the massaging effect of the spa enabling healthy tissue to regenerate. |
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