The Navicular Disease Treatment Options

By Carol Bell


There are many causes associated with heel illness. However, it has not been possible to come up with a solid cure. Instead, veterinaries recommend several management activities to ease pain and allow animals to walk comfortably. Navicular disease treatment management options are divided into non-medical, medicinal and surgical procedures. Sections below briefly explain what each entails.

Slightly affected animals can manage with simple therapy which involves proper shoeing. The broken axis between coffin and pastern bone is a major reason for lameness. It affects how the pastern is aligned to the heel front and back. Gradual realignment reduces pain temporarily. Otherwise, trimming may be done to abnormally long toes to reduce break over.

If the pastern axis is broken, then the angle between the front and back of a heel is affected. This leads to horses landing back to front rather than front to back. To restore, specialists apply some padding to raise the heel angle. The response towards this type of management differs from one animal to another. If a horse tolerates therapy, padding reduces tension exerted on flexor valve easing the pain. Specialists must observe what position provides the most comfort.

Therapy is not completely sufficient to reduce heel pain. This is why medication will be advised to supplement therapy. Medication differs depending on the cause of an ailment. Most commonly, veterinary officers use anti-inflammatory dosages. Phenylbutazone or simply Bute is a common medication which has been approved in most States. Drugs must be taken as advised by a veterinarian. To reduce medication frequency, dosage may be done during workdays of an animal. As a matter of fact, this is when pain is extreme.

While most heel-pain responds positively to therapy coupled with Bute, some do not go away. If experiencing that, a variant form of medication is Isoxsuprine. Vessels contract with continued exertion of the pressure reducing blood flow from the heel area. Isoxsuprine works by dilating these vessels to allow more blood to flow within a given time. However, the effectiveness of this medication is in question since constriction continues to happen as long as heels are under tension.

If therapy coupled with drugs fail to relieve a horse of heel pain, the last option is surgery. Pain is felt through nerve endings on affected regions. Cutting these nerves tends to reduce pain during movement. Surgery has progressively improved from a simple cutting of nerves using a blade to more developed procedures using laser equipment.

The last option when every other medication has failed is Neurectomy. Unlike other management procedures, Neurectomy only aims at reducing pain. Hooves continue degenerating from inside with time. For this reason, it can only be adopted if all other medications do not work.

Not even the nerving provides a long lasting solution. Markedly, it may end up to more complications. As an owner, supplement therapy with other medications depending on condition of your animal. With proper management, the affected animals can operate more comfortably as pain is eased.




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