In the pilot study, 82% of unsound racehorses with osteoarthritis treated with 2.5% PAAG joint injections showed no signs of lameness six weeks after treatment. | Photo: iStock

Osteoarthritis (OA) exerts its painful effects by decreasing joint range of motion as inflammation sets in and cartilage breaks down. “Any of you that work in this field or have arthritis yourself know restriction of movement in the joint capsule is a key component to the disease process,” said Leigh de Clifford, BVSc, Cert. AVP, PGDipVPS, MVSc, while presenting his research findings at the 2019 American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Convention, held Dec. 7-11 in Denver, Colorado.

In horses this commonly leads to chronic and performance-limiting lameness. Veterinarians have a litany of OA treatment options at their disposal, all offering varying results. Those treatments traditionally include corticosteroid and hyaluronic acid (HA) joint injections. Another option—polyacrylamide hydrogel (PAAG)—is showing promise, according to a growing body of cross-species research.

However, no researchers had previously investigated PAAG’s effect in naturally occurring OA in a large group of racehorses. So de Clifford, who works at Matamata Veterinary Services, in New Zealand, and a team of researchers set out do just that, while also comparing PAAG results to those of corticosteroid and HA treatments