Page 305 - The Veterinary Care of the Horse

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VetBooks.ir TENDON AND LIGAMENT INJURIES

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF TENDONS

Tendons are bands of dense white fibrous tissue that connect muscles to bones. They are
made up of parallel bundles of longitudinally aligned collagen fibrils. They have great tensile

strength but are relatively inelastic.

SUPERFICIAL DIGITAL FLEXOR TENDONITIS

Anatomy

In the forelimb the superficial digital flexor muscle attaches to the medial epicondyle of the
humerus, i.e. just above the elbow. The muscle tissue becomes a thick tendon before it passes

through the carpal canal at the back of the knee. It then becomes a flattened band which
widens at the fetlock and forms a ring through which the tendon of the deep digital flexor
passes. The ring splits below the fetlock and the tendon inserts onto the back of the distal

(lower) part of the proximal phalanx (P1) and the proximal (upper) part of the middle
phalanx (P2). (Figures 7.1a and b.)