What Is A Cold Salt Hydrotherapy Spa?

A Cold Salt Hydrotherapy Spa is a self-contained unit that fills up with 35 degree water to minimize heat and inflammation. Not to be confused with a conditioning unit such as an aquatred, a horse simply stands in the ice cold salt water to get the therapuetic, healing effects. This allows the healing process on a horse to occur IMMEDIATELY after a leg injury, not after days or months of stall rest and doctoring. After the healing process is near completion, then a horse can start a exercise routine to complete rehabilitaion. Premier Equine Center offers the healing Cold Salt Hydrotherapy Spa to heal and prevent leg injuries.

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How Does The Spa Work?

After a horse is loaded into the spa, the ice cold salt water is introduced. When the water reaches the desired height on the horse, often above the horse's hocks, the filling of the water is halted. Massaging jets are then introduced and used for the duration of the 10-12 minute spa session. The purpose of the jets is both therapuetic and healing. The jets not only have a massaging effect, but also increases blood circulation through the legs to accelerate the healing process. The jets also have a deep cleansing effect on open wounds. The heavy concentration of epsom and sea salt acts as a hypertonic poultice as well as having a natural healing effect on wounds. The salt also acts as a cleanser on wounds and acts as a draw on the inflammation. After the session is over, the water evacuates back into the spa's holding tank and the horse is then unloaded. The spa can be used to treat inflammation, soreness, heat, or cuts at or below the hock and to prevent future injury.

What Does The Spa Treat?
	The Cold Salt Hydrotherapy Spa can be used for all forms of lower leg inflammation and injuries: removing the painful fluid swelling associated with the injury. Here is a more in depth look into some of the injuries that can be treated.

Tendonitis

Tendonitis- Injury to Superficial Digital Flexor, Check Ligament, Deep Digital Flexor. Tendonitis is one of the principle injuries associated with performance horses, often repair is not fully successful. For example, initial injury may start as a bruise or strain to the collagen fibres which then become inflamed and further deteriorate under the influence of collagenase. In repair, new collagen fibres form, but often form cross links due to lingering swelling which are weak and re-injure. Cold hydrotherapy treatment minimizes the effect of collagenase by keeping the leg temperature lower; and by reducing the swelling, allows collagen fibres to repair neatly.

Desmitis

Desmitis- Suspensory strain or tear. The suspensory apparatus supports the lower leg through attachment to the bones and injury is common when horses slip or twist the leg or over extension of the fetlock occurs during exercise or performance. Injury of the ligament could occur in a similar manner to tendonitis or ligament seperation from bone may result in intense inflammation and pain. Repair is slow and replacement collagen must form correctly to prvent re-injury, hence the importance to keep swelling down for straight collagen repair.

Arthritis
	Arthritis- Injury to fetlock, pastern, knee, hock and coffin joint. Bone provides the living scaffold for movement and injury can result in degeneration of bone and joint tissue with the weakening of the bone strucutre. Inflammation results in swelling and pain. Unless the progressive changes are stopped, deterioration will continue to worsen with concussion.

Hoof Injuries

Hoof Injuries- Over Reach, abscess, stone bruise, laminitis/founder, thrush. All the different structures that go to make up the hoof can be injured either from concussion, trauma, shoeing or nutrition. Each form results in its own type of inflammation sometimes associated with infection. Cold poultice treatment to the hoof has been traditional therapy and the spa improves this process in the above injury types.

Shin Splints
Shin Splints- Sore shins, bucked shins. During exercise, pressure on the digital extensor tendon sheath down the front of the cannon bone, can cause the attachment of the sheath to the bone to lift in young horses. As exercise increases, the inflammation worsens with fluid seperating the sheath and bone further. Spa treatment minimizes the inflammation.

Jar Up/Bruising
	Jar Up/Bruising. Concussion soreness is a common result where horses work on hard surfaces after lead up after lead up exercise on softer surfaces. This may result from a change in the going on grass tracks or all weather surfaces to firmer surfaces for racehorses. The bone tissues are stressed and inflammation commences throughout the bones without showing signs of fluid or swelling.

Bursitis/Synovitis
	Bursitis/Synovitis- Swollen joints, wind galls or wind puffs. Results where stress injury develops in the tissue surrounding the joints and ligamnets. The synovial membranes produce excess fluid causing the joint or tendon sheath to swell.

Open Wounds/Skin Infections

Open Wounds/Skin infections- Skin infections all commence with abrasion to skin cells which then allow entry of various micro-organisms resulting in inflammation. Both inflammation and the micro-organisms require elemination. Cold water hydrotherapy speeds up this process with the salt content of the water acting as a poultice. Many of the artificial surfaces that horses work on are abrasive and can irritate skin on the lower leg.

Prevention

Normally the healing of these injuries may be prolonged with new tissue type being weak and prone to re-injury. Spa treatments resolve injury faster in two ways; firstly, by keeping the leg temperature lower, it minimizes the effect of fibre deteriorating collegenase; and secondly, by reducing the swelling, it allows collageb fibres to repair neatly. This reduced convalescence time is beneficial for the horse and all connections, however the perfect situation to utilize cold salt water hydrotherapy is within.

Injury Prevention
	Prevention is always better than cure. By regular use of cold therapy immediately after hard exercise, many of the stressors within tissues are removed before inflammation develops. Cold also significantly improves bone density reducing the opportunity for bone stress related injuries to commence.

The above information was taken off of ECB Spa's website and can also be found at www.equinespa.com.

How Do The Horses React To The Treatment?
	At Premier Equine Center, we have not had any horses sustain injury while in the spa. During the first spa treatment, horses may react to the introduction of the water and the massaging jets. After the first treatment, most horses no longer react to the spa process at all. Many love the spa, becoming extremely relaxed and try to lead us into the spa!