Tendon function and failure: Recent advances

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59

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Tendon injuries continue to be one of the most problematic injuries that affect racehorses. One of major issues facing veterinarians and trainers is that we have little understanding of why tendons become injured in the first place, how such the SDFT in the horse acts like the spring of a pogo stick, stretching and storing energy as a horse lands, and releasing energy to aid a horse’s locomotion as the limb pushes off.

There is a lot of clinical and research focus on these “energy-storing” tendons (such as the equine SDFT), as it is these tendons which are most prone to injury, and it appears to be a property of the function of such high strain, elastic tendons which result in these significant injuries will lead to so much economic loss and welfare issues for the affected horses. Under such extreme mechanical demands, it is not surprising the SDFT is prone to overuse injury, particularly amongst racehorses. SDFT injuries are highly debilitating, requiring considerable rehabilitation periods and are often career-limiting.

There is little convincing evidence of efficacy for any current treatment, and even after extensive periods of rest and rehabilitation, re-injury rates are extremely high, with little knowledge of how best to safely reintroduce training.  In the horse, tendons are also extremely long, due to the length of a horse’s leg. In the horse’s forelimb, there is no muscle lower in the leg than the level of the knee (carpal) joints, and tendons mainly extend from the level of the knee down to the hoof.

To understand why tendons, such as the equine SDFT, become injured and how we may develop methods to allow better treatments, we and other researchers, have been developing an understanding of how elastic “energy-storing” tendons function and how do they fail.

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Musculoskeletal injuries - impact and prediction

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Synovial Infections

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Byerley Technologies launch Tendon Manager

Byerley Technologies has combined the knowledge of the horse industry with experts in data management systems to develop Tendon Manager, an automatic system that allows for the  Early detection of potential lower leg injuries.

Tendon Manager is a world first in the management of equine lower leg health and delivers a simple user-friendly end solution to the equine sector.  .

Key Early Detection benefits include:  reassurance for trainers and owners; economic benefit for both trainer and owner and improved welfare. The system is fast, non-invasive, accurate and easy to interpret.

Byerley Technologies will be launching Tendon Manager this April at DBS, Doncaster Breeze up Sales, on 22nd and 23rd April.

OMBISTEM-Vet stem cell treatment from Vetbiobank

Whether it be an Olympic track gold medallist or a Derby winner, all athletes, will inevitably suffer injuries to ligaments, joints and tendons. This goes with the territory. Every trainer, be it human or equine, hopes to restore his charge quickly to full competitive glory both legally and economically.

Regenerative medicine has been in force in human clinics and the vet’s practice for over a decade using products such as platelet rich plasma (PRP) or stem cells. However, over the last few years the use and type of stem cells has changed dramatically.

Historically, stem cells were obtained from the fat or bone marrow of the horse to be treated and then injected as a crude product into the injured site immediately or after a 2-3 week delay needed to produce sufficient cells. Detrimentally, cell potential decreased with the time lag during production and treatment was done usually when fibrosis was already manifest.

Vetbiobank’s treatment options are based on having a bank of ready-to-use neonatal stem cells obtained from the umbilical cord that can be administered well before fibrotic onset.

Vetbiobank’s, OMBISTEM-Vet system offers advantages over traditional stem cells products. The cells are fitter and more standardised and less subject to the vagaries of adult cells whose therapeutic potential decreases with age. Their gestational origin means those cells are less immunogenic, thus allowing treatment of both related and unrelated horses. 

Stem cells implanted in a clinically manifest lesion will also migrate to other injured sites which means they preserve health by repairing other undetected lesions. (European trainer magazine June 2014).

This development has attracted widespread interest within the racing community. Furthermore, cord collection can be performed easily in any hygienic stable. Therefore, a stud farm can build with Vetbiobank, a cell bank to treat a lifetime of common horse injuries. 

For a racing stable, without its own bank, it is still possible to access cord stem cells from Vetbiobank’s OMBISTEM-Vet product to treat injuries.

Vetbiobank’s expertise in neonatal stem cell banking and research enables them to offer a BESPOKE pan European cell therapy service to vets, trainers, breeders and horse owners.

Visit www.vetbiobank.com for more information.

Thermography

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Tendon Treatments - how to treat the common injury

Tendon damage is one of the most common and perplexing soft tissue injuries in racing jurisdictions throughout the world. Roughly eight to thirty percent of racehorses in the United States, eleven percent in Japan, five to fifty percent in the United Kingdom (including jump horses) and at least five percent in Australia sustain tendon injuries during their careers.

Kimberly French
 (20 January 2009 - Issue Number: 11)