Equus – August 2019

22 EqUUS 498

EQ MEDICAL FRONT

By Christine Barakat and

Mick McCluskey, BVSc, MACVSc

AUTUMN 2019

HELPING

HORSES HEAL

AFTER COLIC

SURGERY

Horses who undergo

a program of abdominal

strengthening exercises

after colic surgery may

resume work more quickly

and perform better when

they return to competi-

tion, according to new

research from Michigan

State University (MSU).

Recovery from colic

surgery can be particularly

difficult for horses because

of the unavoidable damage

done to the abdominal

muscles, explains Sue

Holcombe, VMD, MS,

PhD. “Colic surgery re-

quires an abdominal

incision, usually through

a layer of fibrous tissue

called the linea alba,”

she says. “Surgical inci-

sions are traumatic and

alter the function of

skeletal muscles.”

To address these heal-

ing challenges, Hillary

Clayton, BVMS, PhD, and

Narelle Stubbs, a profes-

sor of physiotherapy,

developed a series of exer-

cises to strengthen a horse’s

core and back muscles that

became the foundation

for the MSU’s core abdo-

minal rehabilitation exercise

(CARE) program.

Starting 30 days after

colic surgery, the CARE pro-

gram calls for four weeks of

in-hand strengthening work.

The horses are asked to do

several exercises including

lumbar “lifts,” in which a

handler uses finger pressure

along the midline to encour-

age the horse to raise and

tighten his topline, and lim-

bering exercises in which the

horse is asked to move his

chin to his chest, knees, fet-

locks and withers.

The MSU researchers

sought to determine the ef-

ficacy of this CARE program,

especially in helping horses

return to work and competi-

tion faster, potentially with

improved performance.

The owners of horses

who underwent exploratory

colic surgery at the MSU

veterinary hospital between

2008 and 2017 were given

the option of following the

CARE program. Those who

opted in received an in–

structional manual, DVD

and exercise schedule.

Horses who survived one

year after surgery were

eligible for inclusion in the

study and their owners were

contacted for follow-up. All

of the CARE horses complet-

ed the entire protocol with-

out complications.

A total of 62 horses were

used in the study: 11 were

Recovery from

colic surgery can

be particularly

difficult for horses

because of the

unavoidable

damage done to

the abdominal

muscles.

POSTOPERATIVE CARE:
A new study suggests
that a regimen of in-hand
abdominal-strengthening
exercises can help horses
recover more quickly
from colic surgery.
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