Suspensory Desmitis Treatments

Suspensory desmitis is a syndrome found in the legs of horses that causes intense pain and reduces the horse's ability to support itself. Horses afflicted with suspensory desmitis suffer from inflammation and improper healing of the suspensory ligament in their legs. As the condition worsens, even normal weight bearing becomes too painful for the horse, thereby leading to lameness. Fortunately, however, there are several treatment options available to heal this condition.

  1. Rest

    • The most common treatment for suspensory desmitis is rest. Begin by allowing the horse at least four weeks of stall rest. Have a veterinarian perform an ultrasound on the afflicted leg every two weeks to assess the healing process. If the horse shows signs of improvement, gradually allow it to begin walking for short periods of time. As the healing process continues, stall rest can be phased out and replaced with normal activities. This form of treatment usually takes two to three months to fully heal the condition and is most successful on the front limbs as opposed to the rear limbs, which often require more intense treatments.

    Bone Marrow Injection

    • For those cases that do not respond to rest, bone marrow injection is often used to promote healing. Bone marrow injection works by stimulating the healing process through the use of stem cells to regenerate the damaged tissue. To begin treatment, you must extract stem cells from the horse's bone marrow and then process them at a lab. After processing, these cells should be injected into the affected leg. This form of treatment is generally quite effective, even in stubborn cases.

    Shock Wave Therapy

    • Used as an alternative treatment to bone marrow injection, shock wave therapy is successful about half of the time. To achieve the best results, shock wave therapy should be performed within 30 days of suspensory desmitis diagnosis. In addition to relieving pain, shock wave therapy also encourages ligament repair.

    Surgery

    • If all other treatments have failed, the last option available to heal suspensory desmitis is surgery. There are currently two forms of surgery available to treat this condition. The first, called neurectomy, is used to surgically remove the part of the nerve that is affected by suspensory desmitis. The second, called desmoplasty with fasciotomy, is a way to ease pain and pressure by splitting the afflicted tendons. Both options provide relief and stimulate healing. Although surgery is the most drastic measure to treat desmitis, it is also regarded as the most effective.