The Challenges of Administering Joint Injections

Medication and diagnostic analgesia are only effective if veterinarians put them in the right place, so accuracy is key.
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The Challenges of Administering Joint Injections
Medication and diagnostic analgesia are only effective if veterinarians put them in the right place, so accuracy is key. | Photo: The Horse Staff
Injecting medication into a horse’s joint is something akin to hitting the bullseye with a dart. Accuracy is crucial for both endeavors, but with an injection more than a game is on the line. Miss the joint, and the nerve block for lameness diagnosis might be ineffective, or the medication might not reach the intended spot in the horse that needs it.

Kathryn Seabaugh, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, ACVSMR, and colleagues recently conducted a study on practitioners’ accuracy when injecting lower hock joints, and she presented the results at the 2015 American Association of Equine Practitioners’ Convention, held Dec. 5-9 in Las Vegas. Seabaugh is an assistant professor of equine lameness and sports medicine at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, in Athens.

“Intra-articular diagnostic anesthesia and/or therapeutic injection are relied upon to help diagnose and/or treat osteoarthritis in the lower hock joints,” Seabaugh said. But the medication can only be effective if veterinarians are accurate, and the distal hock joints can be a very challenging area to inject, especially if the horse already has osteoarthritis present, she added.

To determine their accuracy, Seabaugh and colleagues evaluated a group of six equine surgeons and surgery residents. Each veterinarian injected two distal intertarsal (DIT) joints and two tarsometatarsal (TMT) joints—both located in the lower hock—with a contrast medium. Then, the team took radiographs to determine where the contrast medium was located within the desired joint

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Erica Larson, former news editor for The Horse, holds a degree in journalism with an external specialty in equine science from Michigan State University in East Lansing. A Massachusetts native, she grew up in the saddle and has dabbled in a variety of disciplines including foxhunting, saddle seat, and mounted games. Currently, Erica competes in eventing with her OTTB, Dorado.

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