What medical problems can Equery alleviate or remedy and how?
Lameness in horses
Lameness is the most common cause of loss of use in horses. It can be caused by trauma, congenital or acquired disorders, infection, metabolic disorders, or nervous and circulatory system disease. Lameness is not a disease per se but a clinical indication of poor muscle activation or inflammation. What we noticed is that a lot of horses have a lower intensity training schedule outside of the prize winning season or need to rest due to injury or pregnancy.This is understandable due to the intense season, weather conditions, the nature of the injury, etc. But, by not training your horses muscles enough or not training them for long periods of time, they can lose muscle mass. With Equery you can train inside their stables or in any area since it’s portable. We have 6 different programs, in which 2 passive programs, which we would advise to use off season as well. This because you still activate the deep muscle fibre (so you prevent muscle atrophy and lameness). You boost metabolism and blood circulation which again prevents inflammation. Since we are targeting the muscles directly, you can still passively train on a non-invasive and joint friendly way. Moreover, build on a sustainable way towards the season. Which will definitely result in a much healthier horse with less injuries or swollen suspensory ligaments. These sessions can be done once or twice a week from 30 minutes up to 60 minutes.
Kissing Spine
Kissing spines refers to a condition in horses in which two or more of the spineous processes are positioned so that they touch or rub against each other. Horses with kissing spines may develop back pain, bone cysts, arthritic changes, and other problems. Equery builds, re-creates and strengthens the spine muscles (e.g: longissimus dorsi). This makes it possible for us to not only prevent kissing spines but as well to treat it. With Equery electrical muscle stimulation, we target the spine (back) muscles directly and build deep muscle fibres, that strengthens the back and offer support to the kissing spine. This will allow the spine to restore into it’s natural balance.Muscle atrophy
Muscle wasting, or atrophy, in horses is a loss of muscle. It is a symptom that can be caused by damage to nerves or muscle fibres or a disease that causes weight loss. With Equery we re-activate the muscle and we can target several areas over the whole body, which makes it easy to restore and rebuild muscle mass in a specific region.By targeting the muscles red and white muscle fibres we are able to re-build the muscle mass with our electrical muscle stimulation and proper nutrition. The difference is often already visible after only three treatments of approximately one hour. Preferably, you should train with Equery 2 times a week and depending on the severity of the muscle atrophy.
Colic disease
Colic is a term used to describe a symptom of abdominal (belly) pain, which in horses is usually caused by problems in the gastrointestinal tract. There are over 70 different types of intestinal problems that cause colic symptoms, which range from mild to severe (life-threatening) in nature. In many severe cases, treatments like injections are applied or in worst case the horse cannot be helped at all, which we with Equery would like to prevent from happening. Since the electrical muscle stimulation activates the muscles around the abdominal area, the contractions indirectly activate the digestive system as well. After or during our treatments or trainings, we notice that 95% of the horses defecate (eliminate waste and toxins) or urinate. They also tend to drink more water after our trainings.
With Equery, we actively boost the metabolism and blood circulation which is contributing to the digestive system as well. This way, we can prevent colic disease from happening and even treat the milder versions with two passive sessions per week of 30 minutes to one hour.
Dysfunctional metabolism
The inability to metabolize carbohydrates, also known as insulin dysregulation, is the key problem in horses with equine metabolic syndrome. High blood insulin concentrations lead to laminitis, which in turn can lead to devastating lameness. By regularly training with Equery, the horses metabolism gets activated, the digestive system works more regularly and with our special passive recovery program, the body eliminates the waste and toxins. While the active sessions contribute to a 90% more effective work out than any other manual training. Which could prevent high blood insulin concentrations.Tendon, joints and ligament issues
Ligaments heal slowly. High hind suspensory injuries can be especially frustrating because your horse's anatomy makes it hard to follow healing there and harder to know when your horse is ready to return to work. In addition, tendons and ligaments have poor blood supplies. A severe tear will take longer to heal than a mild one, and a 20-year-old horse may heal more slowly than a 5-year-old. Typically ligaments heal a bit faster than tendons but you're still looking at nine to 12 months for all but the mildest of these injuries. With Equery, we do not only speed up this healing process but we can also prevent these injuries from happening in the first place. By training frequently we increase the blood circulation to the suspensory ligaments and the tendons, which decreases inflammation. By targeting the muscles directly we are working on a non-invasive and joint friendly way.*This article was created in collaboration with Michèle Thissen, Equery distributor for the United Arabic Emirates & The UAE Showhub.
What is the difference between electrical muscle stimulation and magnetic electro therapy?
The significant difference is that electrical muscle stimulation effectively contracts the muscles at the muscle fiber level. This is something that is scientifically impossible to do with magnetic electro therapy.
Magnetic electro therapy
Magnetic electro therapy uses a permanent magnet to create a low static magnetic field. It's somewhat comparable to the alternative medicine practice of electro magnetic therapy where one creates a magnetic field generated by an electrical powered device.
The therapy itself does not use impulses to stimulate muscle and it operates at a much lower frequence, which makes it impossible for the magnetic field to contract muscles. In other words, although it can be beneficial for your horse, magnetic electro therapy can only be used to sooth superficial muscles and calm connective tissue.
Electrical muscle stimulation
The EMS technology used in our Equery suit builds new muscles and stimulates existing deep muscle fiber (red or white). Equery developed different programs to, on the on hand build muscle and relax muscle fibers, but also to treat Kissing Spine, lameness and muscle atrophy. Furthermore, the suit enhances blood flow and boosts your horse's metabolism.
Our EMS technology and the Equery suit are unique in the equine world.
*This article was created in collaboration with Michèle Thissen, Equery distributor for the United Arabic Emirates & The UAE Showhub.
At the end of August in Cambridge, they rewarded the research plan of Anna Mokry & Lisa Woord with the very first VAHL Award for promising future research in Europe (ECVSMR).