In this article, Swiss-based equine veterinarian Dr. Dorian Bindler shares with us the case of a horse with an acute rupture of the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) when landing a jump during a competition.
Find out how the Tendiboots™ connected boots accompanied him in monitoring the rehabilitation of this horse.
Dr Bindler, horse doctor
Practicing mainly in Switzerland, France and Germany, Dr. Bindler treats sport horses in dressage and show jumping.
Specialized in orthopedic follow-up and diagnosis of lameness, this equine veterinarian also works in internal medicine, dentistry and follow-up of breeding horses.
Founder of the practice Pferdfacharzt.ch, the team also includes a physiotherapist and osteopath for horses: Maike Krumsiek
Show jumping horse injury: The acute rupture of the SDFT
The Superficial Digital Flexor Tendon (SDFT) is subject to significant stress, especially when landing obstacles. Over-solicitation and major efforts can cause lesions on the tendons, ranging from micro-rupture of the tendon fibers to total rupture of the tendon.
A show jumping horse was notably presented to Dr Bindler after a major and sudden lameness when landing an oxer in competition.
Clinically the horse was lame at walk, had pain in the damaged tendon (right tendon) with local effusion. The carpal sheath was also distended.
Treatments and care of the injured tendon
Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP)
This process aims to obtain a concentrate of autologous platelets. This means that these platelets come from the equine patient themselves, in order to stimulate tissue repair on the injured area.
This method is simply carried out from a blood sample under anti-coagulant and treated with a series of centrifugations.
Shock wave therapy
Shock wave therapy is non-invasive for pain in the musculoskeletal system.
This process has an analgesic effect, helps reduce muscle tension and accelerates the healing process. Shock waves are acoustic waves particularly used on horses that suffer from tendinitis, desmitis and osteoarthritis.
Rehabilitation follow-up
At each visit, the horse's locomotion is visually assessed and recorded with Tendiboots™ connected boots. The improvement in locomotion is clinically validated by the practitioner and objectively by the horse's data.
In the follow-up of this horse with an acute rupture of the superficial tendon, it is easy to observe with the data from the Tendiboots™ that the horse tends to load its left foreleg (healthy limb) more and more during successive recordings. These data show that he continues to relieve his injured limb.
The data allow during the rehabilitation to complete the clinical examination and to ensure the improvement of the locomotion during all the protocol of care and progressive return to the effort.
Ultrasounds of the injured tendon are carried out throughout the rehabilitation follow-up by the practitioner.
In order to validate its proper healing and to adapt the treatment protocol.
