Palmitoylethanolamide for Joint Disease and Lameness Management Horses

When I first read this I was thinking ho hum another nutraceutical with poorly controlled studies and unknown efficacy but then I went and looked at the human literature and there are quiet a few reports of efficacy. This is a cannabinoid and was given at the rate of 2.5 gm daily. The effects took quite some time (2 to 4 months) but as of publication the horses have remained pain free despite regular vigorous training. Before purchasing I would wait for a bigger study, preferably a blinded one but this does look promising.
DrO

Oral Supplementation with Ultramicronized Palmitoylethanolamide for Joint Disease and Lameness Management in Four Jumping Horses: A Case Report

Enrico Gugliandolo 1, Alfio Barbagallo 2, Alessio Filippo Peritore 1, Salvatore Cuzzocrea 1 3, Rosalia Crupi 1

Abstract
Background: Four show jumping horses were evaluated for non-responsive lameness, which caused their withdrawal from show jumping competitions. The clinical evaluation was performed by radiographic examination, flexion tests, diagnostic anesthesia and lameness evaluation using the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) scale. The diagnoses were a case of navicular syndrome, a complicated case of chronic navicular syndrome and arthrosis of the distal interphalangeal joint of the right anterior limb and two cases of distal intertarsal joint arthritis. Nutraceuticals are often an important management strategy or coadjutant of pharmacological therapies in joint disease. Ultramicronized Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA-um) is an endogenous fatty acid amide that is well-known for its anti-inflammatory and analgesic proprieties widely used in human medicine and small animal veterinary medicine. Although it includes a small number of cases, our study describes for the first time the efficacy of the use of PEA-um in horses. The four horses with non-responsive lameness and significant impairment in athletic performance were daily treated with PEA-um into their normal diet. After four months of PEA-um supplementation, all horses showed remissions of lameness that led to their reintroduction into showjumping competitions without disease recurrence. Therefore, despite the small number of cases included in this study, these observations suggest a good prospective for developing a controlled experiment to test PEA in a larger cohort of horses.