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  Discussion on Magnetic Therapy for Hock Injury
Author Message
New Member:
pjbarker

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 26, 2007 - 5:38 pm:

8 weeks ago, my 4 year old QH mare was kicked in the hock area from the right side. The injury was obvious as the entire area was swollen, hot and painful to the touch. Started stall confinement, daily water therapy and 1gm of bute 2x per day immediately. My vet came out and examined the area and we determined the best course of action was to maintain the h2o therapy and bute. Most of the swelling went away within 2 weeks and after 3 weeks, we x-rayed the joint to make sure there were no injuries to the bones (there were none). At that time, we determined that hock injections would help and they were administered at that time. Now here we are 8 weeks out from the original injury and whenever my mare overexerts herself, the hock area swells up (not to the same size as the original injury) and she's stiff on that leg. My vet is coming out at the end of the week to administer another dose of hock injections. I understand that the recovery time of injuries to the hock area is considerable and I'll be lucky to even get to ride my girl before winter at this point. My questions is, would magnetic therapy aid in recovery of this injury in addition to the anti-inflammatories?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 27, 2007 - 6:27 am:

Hello Pamela,
and welcome to posting on the boards. Despite the anecdotal reports and quite a bit of research on the positive effects of certain types of electromagnetic fields on the effects of healing, there is little to support the idea that the currently available commercial magnets will speed healing.
DrO
New Member:
pjbarker

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 27, 2007 - 3:24 pm:

Hi and thank you for the feedback. Would you happen to have any of the research posted on this site?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jun 28, 2007 - 8:12 am:

Here are some examples that illustrate the current state of magnetic field therapy. There was a a bit or research done in horses in the 1980's. But lack of demonstratated effect has causes a lost of interest in this treatment modality and there is nothing in horses since them.

However research in human medicine continues with projects like the one below. To sum it up, in general it is easy to find effects on tissues from magnets in a pietre dish, but exactly what this has to do with healing in horses remains absolutely unknown.
DrO

Am J Vet Res. 1985 Oct;46(10):2097-103.
Healing of surgically created defects in the equine superficial digital flexor tendon: effects of pulsing electromagnetic field therapy on collagen-type transformation and tissue morphologic reorganization.
Watkins JP, Auer JA, Morgan SJ, Gay S.
The effect of pulsing electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy on the healing of surgically created defects in equine superficial digital flexor tendons was evaluated. Defects were created in both front superficial digital flexor tendons of 20 horses. The defect in 1 limb was exposed to a PEMF for 2 hours daily. The other limb served as a control. Histologic and immunofluorescence evaluations were done in horse killed at postsurgical weeks 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24. Therapy with the PEMF significantly (P less than 0.05) delayed the maturation of the tissue formed within the defect at postsurgical weeks 8 and 12, as determined by histologic examination. The collagen-type transformation was also delayed by the PEMF therapy, but to a degree that was not significant.

Equine Vet J. 1989 May;21(3):201-5.
A preliminary investigation of the effect of selected electromagnetic field devices on healing of cannon bone osteotomies in horses.

Sanders-Shamis M, Bramlage LR, Weisbrode SE, Gabel AA.
Department of Clinical Sciences, Ohio State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Columbus 43210.

The effect of electrical stimulation by means of selected electromagnetic field devices on healing of cannon bone osteotomies in horses was examined. The defects were created as 3 cm x 1 mm longitudinal osteotomies through the dorsal cortices of the mid-metacarpi/metatarsi of adult horses. This type of defect would asses bone healing in a situation similar to an acute, stable fracture of the cortex. Three electromagnetic devices of different design were tested in three different groups of horses. Healing was evaluated radiographically and histologically. Results showed that osteotomies treated with the electromagnetic devices healed similarly to untreated controls. Our conclusion is that the electromagnetic devices studied did not have a local effect on the repair process of an acute, stable, osseous defect.

J Appl Physiol. 2007 May 3;
Chronic Static Magnetic Field Exposure Alters Microvessel Enlargement Resulting from Surgical Intervention.
Morris CE, Skalak TC.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States.

Magnetic field therapy has recently become a widely used complementary/alternative medicine for the treatment of vascular as well as other musculoskeletal pathologies including soft tissue injuries. Recent studies in our laboratory and others have suggested that acute static magnetic field (SMF) exposure can have a modulatory influence on the microvasculature, acting to normalize vascular function; however, the effect of chronic SMF exposure has not been investigated. This study aimed to measure, for the first time, the adaptive microvascular response to a chronic, 7-day continuous magnetic field exposure. Murine dorsal skinfold chambers were applied on day 0 and neodymium static magnets (or size and weight matched shams) were affixed to the chambers at day 0, where they remained until day 7. Separate analysis of arteriolar and venular diameters revealed that chronic SMF application significantly abrogated the luminal diameter expansion observed in sham treated networks. Magnet treated venular diameters were significantly reduced at day 4 and day 7 (34.3% and 54.4%, respectively) as compared to sham treated vessels. Arterial diameters were also significantly reduced by magnet treatment at day 7 (50%) but not significantly at day 4 (31.6%), although the same trend was evident. Venular functional length density was also significantly reduced by chronic field application (60%). These results suggest that chronic SMF exposure can alter the adaptive microvascular remodeling response to mechanical injury, thus supporting the further study of chronic application of static magnetic fields for the therapeutic treatment of vascular pathologies involving the dysregulation of microvascular structure. Key words: static magnetic field, microvascular, remodeling.
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