HYDROTHERAPY

There's something almost spiritual about the healing properties of water. Humans have used this life-giving liquid to encourage healing, in themselves and in their horses, since the dawn of time. Water cleanses (in fact, several of the world's religions have endowed it with symbolic purifying properties). It soothes, it draws away inflammation and infection, and it does so in the most natural way. It's simplicity itself, borne of a simple molecule composed of two hydrogen atoms bound to an oxygen atom.

Even with all of the advances in veterinary medicine we've seen over the past century, there's still no substitute for simple, soothing water. For many equine injuries, hydrotherapy (applying water to encourage healing) is just what the doctor ordered--and can help the healing along better, and more cheaply, than many of our chemically advanced lotions and potions or electronic gadgets. 

"Hydrotherapy," says Sigle Magner-Skeries, a certified equine massage therapist and founder of Treetops, an equine rehabilitative center in Alliston, Ontario, "is just a fancy term for very simple stuff we apply in our barns every day. You don't need to be an expert to use it."

There are several ways in which Hydrotherapy can be applied: 

Running Water

So basic, yet so effective: that's what hosing an injury is. When you aim running water from a hose at (or just above) a new injury site, you sweep away dirt and debris in the gentlest way. Provided the water is cold, you also encourage the inflammatory process to slow down, reducing the amount of swelling and pain your horse is experiencing.

Cold Water Therapy

The application of cold hydrotherapy to the skin surface triggers three reactions. It works at a cellular level, restraining the metabolic response of the cells, so that they can better survive the not-so-beneficial side-effects of healing. In essence, it puts them into a state of hibernation, so that the cells need less oxygen to function, and thereby suffer less hypoxic injury. Cold therapy also decreases the permeability of the blood vessel walls, limiting the flow of enzymes that sound the alarm and thus reducing the amount of fluid that accumulates in the area.

Hot Water Therapy

As the heat and pain subside (which can take from a day to a week or more, depending on the nature and severity of the injury), slowing the circulation to the site becomes less desirable. You have reached phase two in the healing process, when you want to encourage circulation as much as possible to maximize the healing effect. 

Running Hot And Cold

For chronic fluid congestion in the tissues, sometimes seen in older injuries that just don't seem to be resolving completely, Lopez suggests alternating hot and cold therapies. This approach seems to "open up" the body processes and shut them down again, stimulating the best beneficial effects of both. Cold hose the area for 20 minutes, then follow with the application of a warm compress. Repeat the process two or three times over the course of a day.

Immersion Therapy

Let's take hydrotherapy one step further and talk about dunking the whole horse. Equine swimming pools are a time-honored way of improving a horse's fitness level and allowing him to rehabilitate from an injury while avoiding any weight-bearing concussive forces on his limbs.

Credits and Read more: http://www.thehorse.com/articles/10456/the-power-of-hydrotherapy and Asher Swimming pool centre (image)