[ytr45]

A few years ago my vet recommended that I have my horse's neck injected. He has had some ongoing contact issues and my vet said it could be arthritis in the lower neck.

I am at the point where I'm probably going to go ahead and get it done. I talked to the vet at the imaging clinic, and they said the contact issues we were having sounded like bony remodeling in the poll, in which case shockwave would be the treatment.

I'm just curious about folks' experiences with neck injections and/or poll shockwave. Did the issues improve afterward?

Thanks as usual!

[davistina67]

Have you had xrays of the neck done? Are you having a vet that specializes in chiro adjust the horse regularly?

[Simkie]

I would image the neck before you inject it.

Long thread about my experiences here: http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/sh...pdate-post-154

[piedpiper1]

I have just been through this with my gelding. He was looked at by a top neck/back specialist. He had a complete workup done.. X-rays, ultrasounds and bone scan. He has a bone spur at the base of his skull on the left side and arthritis in his lower neck. We injected his lower neck and shock waved his poll. The poll shockwave seems to give him the most relief. We have shocked his poll two times.

[2tempe]

my old gelding's neck was injected a year ago - three joints, both sides of neck. It was done only after an extensive evaluation of what his problems were, including films. The result was VERY positive and there has been no recurrence of symptoms. That said, I would not do this unless/until you have a confirmed diagnosis...especially since you are hearing two different things thus far. And how will the vet know where/what to inject if no images??

[Peggy]

Same experience as 2tempe, except I had my horse's neck re-done after about a year since some of the symptoms seemed to be coming back.

[candico]

Have seen a few with neck injected and either there was no improvement or improvement seemed short-lived. Opted for SW with my own for neck, poll, SI, and ringbone with great success. I combined the SW session by concurrently doing the Pentosan loading dose and Cosequin ASU, but have seen SW improve horses without additional therapies. Only needed one session for poll, neck, and SI, but can take up to three sessions. Would highly recommend SW!

[FairWeather]

Had it done with little result, but only because it wasn't the issue. It was done with rads AND ultrasound, with ultrasound-guided injections. It was not inexpensive, but I would consider worth it if it resolved the issue. Most people I spoke to said they only had to have it done once, maybe twice, as the muscles could develop to support the arthritic area.