Saturday, 25 April 2015

What You Should Know About Navicular Pain

By Alta Alexander


Re-occurring set of signs is what is called syndrome. The other name used for navicular pain is navicular syndrome. This condition mostly affects horses. A horse with this syndrome can be nursed and treated back to its initial level of performance. Most horse owners tend to believe that horses suffering from this disorder are useless but this is not true. Timely diagnosis is crucial for efficient treatment.

Identification of the cause is based on both clinical symptoms and radiographic photos. Looking for signs imply the vet focuses on all that is visible during inspection while radiographic photos involve collecting information from x-rays photos. The photos are essential as they assist in ruling out other likely causes of lameness. During examination the experts goes for unique signs such as if the animals land on their heels in place of toes.

Quarterhorses and thoroughbreds breeds are suffer most from this condition, even though other breeds also suffer from this condition. The two breeds are susceptible to navicular disorders as they are heavyweights supported by relatively tiny feet. This results in them exerting excess pressure on their forelimbs. The disorder is prevalent at 14 to 7 years, even though it can develop at any stage.

Physical symptoms manifest themselves in form of one foot being tinier than its front twin. This is brought about by the animal putting no or less strain on that particular foot for long. The other cause for contracted foot is low blood flow. While at rest affected animals normally alter their weight repeatedly. In doing so they ease strain, which results in pain on the heel parts. Placing pressure on toes cause the shoulders to appear lame.

A hoof tester is used together with other techniques. The tool puts strain over the frog areas and the horse winces because of pain if the hooves are diseased. The medic notes the response of the horse when the tester is applied on its fore and back limbs. The other technique is about injecting anesthesia, which temporarily stops pain. The pain might be originating from navicular parts should the animal walk in normal manner after injection were it was previously lame.

There are several ways of correcting this problem depending on the extend of infection. Drug therapy involving use of Isoxsuprine is common. The drug dilates or expands blood vessels resulting in increased circulation to the affected parts. Most horses respond to this treatment. Isoxsuprine lasts for a given duration and treatment is done repeatedly as required.

Unresponsive cases can be tackled using chemical blocking agents as the expense of surgery. The agent makes the nerve under question useless for a period between 4 to 2 months. It is given periodically at the same spot to animals that are unresponsive to drug therapy. It is advised to delay surgery as long as possible because of further complications connected with it.

In conclusion, this disorder is highly treatable but does not leave once it sets in. Navicular disease is caused by combined factors including trauma and decreased blood circulation among others. Horse owners have to do their best to protect then from developing this disorder. They should avoid overfeeding them. They ought to make sure the shoeing is correct and seek advice from professionals whenever in doubt.




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