Superficial Digital Flexor Tendinitis in the Athletic Horse: How to Manage It

Myo-tendinopathies are common pathological conditions affecting the musculoskeletal system of the horse. The competitive career of performance horses may be shortened as a consequence of tendon injuries, especially because the recovery is extremely difficult or impossible. A recent ultrasonographic study on National Hunt horses in training in the UK showed an incidence of 23% of tendon pathology with some stable with higher prevalence of up to 50%. This represents an important loss for the equine industry. Tendons can be classified into two main categories:
 Positional, such as common digital extensor tendon of the horse and human hands tendon;
 Weight bearing, more elastic, tendons such as Achilles tendon in human and Superficial Digital Flexor tendon (SDFT) and Suspensury ligament (SL) in horses.
The SDFT doesn’t only support the metacarpo-phalangeal joint with SL but stores energy for efficient locomotion due to its elasticity; in fact the muscular component of this structure is only capable of contracting for 2 mm and its main function is to fix the origin of the SDFT and absorb potentially damaging oscillation. The elasticity of this tendon allows the horse to run fast but obviously with great costs to his health which supports his high loads at gallops of 1-2 tonnes in 1cm2 of cross-sectional area and large degree of stretch up to 16% (SDFT will rupture between 12 and 20% in the laboratory). […]