ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: [endurance] I'm back!
Re: [endurance] I'm back!
Diane E. Nelson (nelsonde@ttown.apci.com)
Thu, 15 Feb 1996 09:59:46 -0500 (EST)
Hi Nick--
Our Travis suffered a severe suspensory injury at the Rhode Island 50.
It took a full 18 months before we felt he was back to his old self, but
boy are we careful about what-where-when! We had Drs. Judith Shoemaker
and Joyce Harmon do chiropractic adjustments and accupuncture, had a
massage therapist work on redistributing the scar tissue around the
tendon sheath, etc. That's a really important step--you can use Mineral
Ice and vigorously massage at 90 degrees to the tendon, back & forth (not
up & down). This will keep the scar tissue down, or even eliminate it.
We weren't quite aggressive enough with this step and the scar tissue
built to the point where any little additional stress, or just your usual
"stocking up", would promote enough extra swelling that the little
cross-ligament that runs like a little belt around the area just above
the fetlock (forgive me, I don't have the "proper" names at my fingertips
this AM--trying to work with catalysts instead) would tighten like a
rubber band and cause additional swelling, and ultimately a grade 1-2
lameness.
We found that it helped to use a Norfields Magnetic Therapy shin/tendon
boot 2-3 times a week for 6-8 hours at a clip.
Also tried Adequan (no noticable effect for us), and several varieties of
chondroitan sulfates (all expensive to the tune of $1/day) but again with
no real success that I could measure. It seemed that TIME was the real
healer!
Take heart....
Diane @ Safe Haven
Eastern PA