Treatment of the supra and interspinous desmitis in horses with Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy

Abstract

Back pain in equines can lead to the occurrence of lameness of difficult characterization, localization and identification of the painful area, being that the desmitis are the lesions of higher incidence in the equine athletes. The extracorporeal shockwave therapy has being used in increasing form in the diseases of the locomotor system, as an alternative to the conventional therapies. 10 Quarter Horses had been used, with loss of performance associated to lesions in the back. The diagnosis of the thoracolumbar lesions was carried through by a physical and ultrasonographic examination. After the localization and characterization of the lesions, were carried through the treatment with shockwaves. Was observed clinical improvement in all horses after the last session, and the examination of the majority of the animals was normalized 90 days after the last application of shock waves. In the ultrasonography, we can see the normalization of the ecogenicity in 92% of the injured points and normalization of the parallelism in 84% 120 days after the last session. The analysis of the results showed that the physical and ultrasonographic examinations had been efficient in the accomplishment of the diagnosis and the evaluation of the results of the effect of the treatment and that the shockwave therapy was effective for the treatment of the thoracolumbar desmitis in horses.