Why might one horse suffer from injury to the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT) in the navicular area while another doesn’t? A recent study suggests that the angle of the DDFT as it passes over the navicular bone might have a lot to do with it.
MRI uses magnetic fields to create various types of cross-sectional and three-dimensional images.
“With MRI we’ve found horses with coffin bone fractures that weren’t visible on X rays, but were treated like navicular horses because they blocked to the heel,” says Sarah Sampson, DVM, of Washington State University. “If these are managed like
In earlier years, a diagnosis of navicular disease was often considered career-ending for a horse. Chronic lameness was typical, in spite of therapeutic
My horse was diagnosed with navicular syndrome. Can you help me sort through the pros and cons of Bute vs. injections?
Navicular disease, or inflammation of the heel, is one of the most common causes of performance-limiting lameness in the front legs of many different types of horses. Although it is common and veterinarians have long recognized and treated it
Navicular disease or syndrome is one of the most common causes of performance-limiting lameness in the front legs of many different types of horses. Despite the frequency with which the disease occurs and how long it has been recognize
Several lameness problems can exist in the rear (palmar) half of a horse’s foot; most bear the very general title of “heel pain.” The real problem is that without very careful diagnosis, lameness in this general area might be attributed to the
A large group of horses that developed clinical signs of navicular disease during the six months prior to exam were scanned with MRI. These horses demonstrated typical signs of bilateral forelimb lameness, sensitivity to hoof testers over the middle
When horse owners wer
Magnetic resonance imaging was important in making an accurate diagnosis and yielded evidence that navicular bone injury, even in the absence of radiographic evidence of a fracture, should be considered as a differential diagnosis for horses
Horses that had intermittent lameness; pointing a foot; soreness to hoof testers over the frog; shifting leg lameness; contracted, upright feet; and stabbing toes, shortened stride movement were candidates for Navicular Disease.
In a recently completed study involving navicular cases, Byron found lameness in horses undergoing extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) treatment averaged improvement of about one lameness grade.
A word about how MRI works is appropriate before launching into a discussion of the foot and problems that can occur in the heel area, because MRI has opened the door to a better understanding of foot conditions in general.
Healthy bone undergoes constant metabolic change to prevent bone loss or abnormal remodeling (cell turnover) that can occur with loading. Horses with navicular disease can have abnormal remodeling and formation of osteolytic lesions (areas of
One of the most common comments at the 15th annual Bluegrass Laminitis Symposium in Louisville, Ky., Jan. 21-23, 2002, was that if farriers or veterinarians don’t have a passion for working on laminitic horses, they shouldn’t take the cases.
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