Equine HBOT Indications explained

What types of injuries and ailments can be treated?

Breeding: HBOT helps the uterus return to normal size and shape following foaling, and dummy foals improve with increased blood flow to the brain. The therapy has also been reported to increase libido in aging stallions.

Anemia or blood loss: For horses that are anemic and those that have lost a large volume of blood because of injury or surgery, HBOT allows the remaining blood to carry a larger amount of oxygen, sustaining body functions while more blood is being produced.

Bone infection: HBOT increases the oxygen concentration in all body tissues including bone and bone marrow. Bone infections that have not responded to traditional antibiotic therapy often clear up after treatment in the hyperbaric chamber. Joint infections in foals also respond well to this therapy.

Wounds in skin and muscle tissue: Improved oxygen delivery and stimulation of capillary formation assist in healing, especially in skin grafts, amputations, ulcerated wounds, and injuries where tissues have been crushed and circulation has been destroyed or impaired.

Laminitis: By enhancing oxygen delivery and minimizing inflammation and swelling, HBOT can dramatically minimize the destruction of tissue structures within the hoof.

Post-surgical equine patients: Horses recovering from colic surgery and other procedures benefit from HBOT to oxygenate damaged tissues, restore blood flow, and reduce swelling.

Connective tissue injuries: Torn ligament and bowed tendons heal more quickly when HBOT is included in treatment.

The goal is to use HBOT to shorten the recovery time for injuries and illnesses. The final results desired include improved survival rates for serious conditions, faster healing, less time spent in the hospital, and a healthier horse overall.

Veterinarians are using HBOT to treat the following conditions:

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is also potentially beneficial for athletic and non-athletic injuries or ailments, including: 

·       Improved rate and degree of recovery in equine athletes

·       Improved well-being and demeanor

·       Desmitis (ligament disease)

·       Tendonitis (bowed or diseased tendons)

·       Fractures

·       Exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhaging (Bleeders)

·       Acute laminitis (Founder)

·       Reperfusion diseases (severe muscle damage, crush injuries)

·       Colic (intestinal obstruction, colonic torsions, volvulus, etc.)

·       Enteritis and endotoxemia

·       Ileus (loss of intestinal motility)

·       Infertility (mare and stallion)

·       Rhodococcus pneumonia in foals

·       Lyme disease

·       Osteomyelitis (bone infection)

·       Compromised wounds

·       Myositis (tying up)

·       Septic arthritis (joint infections)

·       Neurologic disease

·       Severe necrosis (e.g. snake and spider bites, toxic substances, etc.)

·       Neonatal maladjustment syndrome

·       Lung and abdominal abscesses

·       Gastric ulcer healing. Prevention of ischemia reperfusion injury post colon torsion

·       Any intestinal ischemic 

    Exercise cise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage.

               Post-race or post performance recovery