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  Discussion on Potential Negative Implications of Frequent Coffin Joint Injections?
Author Message
New Member:
Tripled

Posted on Sunday, Sep 5, 2004 - 12:58 am:

Greetings. I read in an article that the hocks are "low motion" joints and coffin are "high motion" joints...and if the condition is affecting a “high motion” joint, “ongoing joint degeneration can lead to permanent lameness”. Among many other points, the article stated that injecting hocks “will also have some beneficial effects in reducing the joint degeneration that occurs with chronic arthritis”. However, the “scenario of repetitive joint injections of increasing frequency being needed in order to keep a horse going may develop, leading to concern about the long term health of the joint”.

A few questions:
-any issues with the points above? (let me know if I should credit the author)
-in the case of coffin joint injections is there a similar degeneration-reduction effect on the joint as there is with hocks? (a friend of mine said she had heard the opposite is true…that for coffin joints the injections can have a negative effect)
-if not, is there any ‘typical view’ of what would be considered too frequent or too much for coffin joint injections?
-any other particular risks associated with injecting coffin joints?

I’m happy to provide all the details of my horse, his lameness and how we ended up with evaluating coffin join injections as the treatment…but I was really just looking for the general perspective and I wasn’t able to find answers to these particular questions throughout the site. All thoughts welcome.

Cheers,

Andrea
Member:
Dres

Posted on Sunday, Sep 5, 2004 - 9:55 am:

Andrea, i am looking forward to the reply of your questions as well.. i have a young horse that has a avulsion fracture of the navicular and a wing fracture of the extensor processor on the other hoof.. thus joint injections have helped GREATLY , i was wondering the same questions as above...

( i would be interested in the reason for your interest as well.. )

Ann
Member:
Tripled

Posted on Sunday, Sep 5, 2004 - 11:36 am:

Ann, Thanks for the note. I have a 17.2h 14yo warmblood gelding that was campaigned as an Eq horse for many years before I bought him 2 years ago (read: big guy and big wear & tear). He has been on regular (every 12-18 mo) hock injections for some time, but not coffin injections as far as we know. Recently, based on lameness up front, my vet advised coffin injections. I had heard from a friend (the one I mentioned above) that too frequent coffin injections could long term make the joint "mush". She didn't have any basis for this (just a perception from various conversations) and it didn't make sense to me, but thought it was worth checking out. If the coffin injection turns out to be the right fix for his lameness, I want to think ahead about what is a safe frequency/duration/etc. I'm lookin forward to the response as well...and good luck with your young guy! Cheers, Andrea
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Sep 6, 2004 - 8:43 pm:

Hello Andrea,
There are some problems with the statements above:
1) It is not true that the hock is a low motion joint. The hock consists of 4 different articulations (joints), one high motion (remember the hock does flex remarkably) and three low motion.
2) It is not true that arthritic low motion joints do not suffer from progressive degeneration under any set of conditions.

The big difference between low motion joints and high motion joints is that you can fuse the low motion joints to return a horse to a relatively sound state.

We do address your questions in the article Overview of Arthritis but the answers are not all straight forward and depend on many factors the most important of which is the goals you have. We discuss products, dosages, and the effects of these medications. Be sure to follow the links to information on the individual products you are considering using.
DrO
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