Treatments and Therapeutics

From corticosteroids, anabolic steroids, biological medications, shockwave and class IV laser therapy, there are a myriad of different treatment options for different conditions affecting your horse. At Rainbow we are offer not only the most recent in treatment modalities but have been involved in the research behind validating some of these treatments. Combined with our team of equine specialist vets who bring the most up to date advice on what will be the most effective treatment strategy to ensure your horse is treated safely, legally and with the best long term outcome.

Shockwave Therapy

Shockwave therapy applies a pressure wave that is created in the same way as a supersonic boom to injured ligaments and tendons as they attach to the bone.  We have two shockwave machines – one to use on the road and a hospital based machine. Typically a course of three to four treatments are given for a range of conditions such as back related pain, suspensory ligament desmitis, collateral ligament desmopathy.

Class IV Laser Therapy

Class IV laser therapy is a veterinary only laser treatment applied to treat inflammation of tendons, ligaments, joints as well as wounds in areas that are difficult to heal. As a class IV laser it has greater penetrative power and can reach deeper tissues and has been shown to be beneficial in treating injuries that are not responding to other forms of treatment. Typically horses will have between 10 and 14 treatments over the course of one to two weeks. We offer packages at the hospital to perform the treatment as an inpatient and discounted rates for ongoing treatments. Regular monitoring of injuries enables the effects of the treatment to be seen. We have used it to successfully treat tendon sheath injuries, patellar ligaments, suspensory ligament, check ligaments, collateral ligaments, neck muscular pain amongst others. You can speak to any of our orthopaedic specialists about the use of this treatment

Biological Therapeutics

Biological therapeutics are products that are extracted from the blood or bone marrow of the horse and conditioned or upregulated to be used to inject back into areas of injury in the horse. We have the latest technology to perform and inject these therapies often under ultrasound guidance.

Platelet Rich Plasma

PRP is a blood based product taken from the horse’s own blood and after processing in 15 to 20 minutes is injected in a concentrated form into the site of injury. Our onsite full service laboratory ensures that PRP is prepared in a sterile and completely safe way. This can be prepared to inject on the same day as the horse is diagnosed and PRP can also be stored for up to 1 year to be used in the case of other injuries.

IRAP -I & II

INterluekin -1 receptor antagonist Protein is an anti-inflammatory found naturally in blood. Our laboratory processes the blood to massively increase the quantity of this product so it can be used to inject into inflamed joints. Enough IRAP is processed to be stored for three or four injections.

Stem Cells

Stem cells can be produced from bone marrow taken from the horse’s sternum or hip region. This is used to treat tendon and ligament injuries and in some cases into the joint following diagnosis of injuries. Once the bone marrow is collected, the stem cells take around 2 to 3 weeks to culture and then are injected under ultrasound guidance in a strictly sterile fashion.

Mesotherapy

This treatment modality for back, neck and lumbar pain uses a combination of homeopathic and conventional medications injected in multiple sites through a specialised injector needle. It is often used in combination with other treatments such as shockwave therapy and physiotherapy. It is utilised by competition and pleasure horses prior to and during their competition and riding seasons as a very effective way of managing back pain due to muscular spasms.