Trooper's Tendon Injury (& HY-50 injection)

Trooper had another ultrasound scan yesterday to see how the tendon injury was healing. He was slightly stiff in walk but he was sound in trot. He is 22 years old now so the stiffness may just be due to his age with the lack of exercise he has been having rather than the injury. The vet was pleased with it's progress and he is now able to go for two 5 minute walks a day. He is already out in the field during the day but he usually just stands there and eats! In one of his 5 minute walks he is allowed to be ridden which I am looking forward to when I go home!

Trooper when he first did the injury and wouldn't stand on the leg.

The vet also mentioned giving him an injection called a HY-50 injection. I had never heard of this but after a bit of "googleing" I found it has it's own website,  click here! There is a scientific study on their website but I am always sceptical about this as they are not going to put any scientific research that has found it not to work on their own website. It says it can help with carpal flexion recorvery along with other things. It is used in horses with acute or chronic synovitis.  The tendon sheath surrounds the tendon and has synovial fluid inside it. I think some of this synovial fluid had come out when trooper had his injury and the vet said this has cleared up now which is good.

When searching for research that has been carried out into this product it is called  hyaluronate sodium. I am lucky to have access to lots of journals through my university and there was a lot of research into this product.

From the papers I opened up on the first page of search results, there were papers on a variety of species including horses, rabbits and humans and  6/8 studies found it to have a positive effect. However, it was said that it has to be given in the correct amount. As different studies have found different effects it would suggest that there are other factors involved as to how well it will work but in general it does seem to help with the healing of tendon injuries.

Our vet has been very good throughout the process of Trooper having his tendon injury. In the past he has only had the vet for vaccinations so we have seen a variety of different ones from the same practice. The vet that has been dealing with his tendon injury has been the same vet all the way through. She is very good at explaining things to us and telling us about the different treatments available. She is also very good at dealing with Trooper who doesn't really like the vet!

Hopefully by the time I go home for a month at Christmas he will be able to go on little hacks out which I like doing as a break from revision!

Love Laura
xxxx