Acupuncture Does Not Modulate Palmar Heel Pain

Many owners of horses with palmar heel pain explore a number of ways to relieve the discomfort, including acupuncture. Research from the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine and published in The Canadian Veterinary Journal finds that acupuncture appears to relieve the pain in some, but not all horses.

“Acupuncture did not effectively modulate pain in horses with palmar heel pain under the conditions of the current study,” according to the research. “[An earlier study] investigated two groups of horses; those with laminitis and those with navicular syndrome. In each disease group, there were horses that showed improvement with acupuncture treatment, but there were no statistically significant differences between treatment groups and controls.”

One-Third Of UK Horses Are Lame, Annual Report Finds

One-third of the horses in the United Kingdom are lame, according to the recent National Equine Health Survey.

The survey, conducted annually by Blue Cross in partnership with the British Equine Veterinary Association, found that the five most frequently recorded individual disease syndromes were lameness (not laminitis), 26.1%; laminitis, 6.8%; sweet itch, 6.8%; mud fever, 6.8%; and pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), or equine Cushing’s disease, 6.6%. Lameness, sweet itch and PPID also were in the top 5 in 2015.

Laminitis Is Not Just A Springtime Problem, Vet Says

In the fall, some owners and caretakers are faced with the onset of obvious foot pain in their horses for no apparent reason. What’s going on?

The vast majority of…