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View Full Version : Shoulder/arm pit injury.


Stacie
Jul. 4, 2009, 09:15 PM
the short post is..who has had this happen. how long did it take to heal and what course of healing did it take.
The long post:
Some months ago I wrote in about my big TB who suddenly started walking with a front leg turned out at 45 degrees and was keeping his elbow way away from his barrel. He had a huge hematoma that settled just behind the elbow in his upper leg. It was winter, it was slippery and he must have slipped and sort of a done a mini-spit on that leg.
In the end the vet diagnosed some kind of muscle tear in shoulder/arm pit area and said the hematoma was huge.

The Problem is.... he gets sound on the leg, then goes lame again. One week he's fine, the next head bobbin lame. Thankfully, the hematoma/swelling has not returned.

On the one hand, I'm thrilled that he goes sound at all. On the other hand, I'm worried that he's going to get a chronic problem from scar tissue forming.

Does anyone have experience with this? I know shoulders are really hard to diagnose and work with. I may need to have another vet in but with a soft tissue injury in the shoulder I'm not sure I can find a specialist even in Northern Virginia where we are crawling with great vets.

Twiliath
Jul. 4, 2009, 09:26 PM
I don't know about horses, but I work with a rehab vet and in dogs it's called a medial shoulder instability, or rotator cuff injury (humans). It is caused by a split or splay. If the soft tissue is merely strained, try to keep his elbows hobbled if you can to prevent any more splay. If it's fully torn, I don't know what to suggest. I know of a guy who does dogs, not horses. Yikes.