Short- and Long-Term Outcome of Highpower Laser Therapy

Short- and long-term outcome of highpower laser therapy as a treatment for tendinopathy in 150 sport horses

Introduction
Tendinitis is a common pathology in (sport)horses with a relatively poor prognosis for the horse to return to previous performance level1,2.. Several in-vitro and in-vivo studies show positive effects of laser light on collagen fiber alignment, fibroblast proliferation and improvement of tensile strength in injured tendons of rats and rabbits3. Laser therapy is currently applied to treat human sports injuries4, no data are available in horses.

Material and method
In this scouting study, the study population includes 150 sport horses that were diagnosed at the Equine Hospital, Tierklinik Lüsche with any of these 4 pathologies: tendinitis of the SDFT (n=30), tendinitis of the DDFT (n=12), (proximal) suspensory ligament desmitis (n=67) and suspensory branch desmitis (n=41). All horses were treated for 2 weeks with a FP4® high-power laser, either as a sole treatment (n=100) or combined with other treatment modalities (n=50).Lameness degree (0-5, adapted AAEP scale) and ultrasonographic appearance (using a quantitative scale described by Ramzan et al1) of the injury was recorded before, immediately after and 4 weeks after laser therapy. Long-term follow-up was realized by means of a telephone questionnaire on 6, 12 and 24 months after termination of laser therapy. […]