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The treatment of equine lameness is a complex subject. Lameness in horses has a variety of causes, and treatment must be tailored to the type and degree of injury, as well as the financial capabilities of the owner. Treatment may be applied locally, systemically, or intralesionally, and the strategy for treatment may change as healing progresses.
Appropriate treatment for lameness depends on the condition diagnosed, but at a minimum it usually includes rest or decreased activity and anti-inflammatory medications. Other treatment options, such as corrective shoeing, joint injections, and regenerative therapies, are pursued based on the cause of lameness and the financial limits of the owner.
A chihuahua with a valgus deformity in the left forelimb. Valgus is a term for outward angulation of the distal segment of a bone or joint. The opposite condition is called varus, which is a medial deviation of the distal bone. The terms "varus" and "valgus" always refer to the direction in which the distal segment of the joint points.
Angular limb deformity; Other names: Crooked legs, Angular limb deviation, Carpal valgus, Carpal varus, Carpal flexural deformity: A chihuahua with a carpal valgus deformity in the front left limb. Specialty: Orthopedics: Causes: Blunt force trauma, unbalanced nutrition, or excessive exercise before the closure of the growth plate: Treatment
It is correct for a knock-kneed deformity to be called both a varus deformity at the hip (coxa vara) and a valgus deformity at the knee (genu valgum); although the common terminology is to simply refer to it as a valgus knee. When the terminology refers to a bone rather than a joint, the distal segment of the bone is being described.
A high percentage of performance horses develop arthritis, especially if they are worked intensely when young or are worked on poor footing. Treatment of early joint disease often involves a combination of management and nutraceuticals. Intramuscular, intravenous, and intra-articular medications may be added as the disease progresses.
On projectional radiography, the degree of varus or valgus deformity can be quantified by the hip-knee-ankle angle, [7] which is an angle between the femoral mechanical axis and the center of the ankle joint. [8] It is normally between 1.0° and 1.5° of varus in adults. [9] Normal ranges are different in children. [10]
Horses with a high weight-to-foot-size ratio may have an increased chance of exhibiting symptoms of navicular syndrome, since the relative load on the foot increases. This might explain why the syndrome is seen more frequently in Thoroughbreds , American Quarter Horses , and Warmbloods as opposed to ponies and Arabians .