New Navicular Bursa Injection Technique Could Prove Safer

Researchers made recommendations for an alternative navicular bursa injection approach.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Navicular bursa injections can both help and hurt. The help they offer with diagnosing problems with this cushion between the navicular bone and the deep digital flexor tendon, and treating pain in the same area is offset by a risk for damage and infection. Colorado State University (CSU) researchers have been examining whether there’s a better way to conduct this important procedure.

Alexander Daniel, MRCVS, and CSU colleagues described disadvantages posed by the traditional, or palmar, approach and made recommendations for an alternative at the 2013 American Association of Equine Practitioners’ Convention, held Dec. 7-11 in Nashville, Tenn.

The main drawback to the palmar method, he explained, in which the veterinarian accesses the bursa from the back of the pastern—is that the needle must penetrate the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT). This risks damaging the tendon, especially if the injection is repeated on several occasions.

Problems can also arise if the veterinarian needs to aspirate bursal fluid to check for infection: He or she could inadvertently cause infection if entering the structure through an infected or contaminated wound

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Christy Corp-Minamiji, DVM, practices large animal medicine in Northern California, with particular interests in equine wound management and geriatric equine care. She and her husband have three children, and she writes fiction and creative nonfiction in her spare time.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
292 votes · 292 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!