Page 59 - July 2016

This is the only electrical therapy in which the currents penetrate the cell wall
In 1983, Don Doran designed and launched the first equine sports message therapy training program with the goal of correlating muscle problems of the human runner and the equine runner.
therapists, since Microlief® is a perfect addition to any equine sports therapy program. We get
a lot of feedback from the people (especially three equine veterinarians) who are using this. The horse owner may be doing it to help relieve a tendon problem with a sport horse. Perhaps their veterinarian has looked at the horse and thinks they need to do shock wave or injec- tions, which might cost $5,000. They use the microcurrent therapy and the vet comes back a month later and is impressed with how fast the tendon healed! Here they’ve spent maybe $100 to $200 for the month’s treatments, as opposed to $5,000, and the horse is doing very well.
We are beginning to get this kind of feedback and seeing that this product really accelerates healing and reduces the inflammation and pain,” says Don. Veterinarians who have used it realize that their industry will require some
comprehensive studies, however, in order for more veterinarians to be open to trying it.
“This has proved to be an excellent therapy, either post event to reduce inflammation, or in recovery to speed healing and assist with pain management and inflammatory conditions with- out the need for NSAIDs.” Those anti-inflam- matory drugs are not without side effects and complications, so it’s very beneficial to be able to relieve inflammation without resorting to drugs.
“Thoroughbreds and Standardbred race- horses have their blood tested for drugs after a race. Medication policies and acceptable drug levels are determined by the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) and blood levels of drugs are an issue. So this modality fits very nicely, enabling us to help horses without the use of various NSAIDs.” These drugs do reduce inflammation, but they can also lead to GI tract ulcers, pulmonary hem- orrhage (bleeders), and other problems. It can become a vicious cycle when a person uses very many NSAIDs on racehorses (or any athlete).
The harder the horses work, the more effort is required to keep them fit and at the top of their game, so people tend to rely on phar- maceuticals. “This Microlief ® has some great advantages, but it’s something new and a lot of people are hesitant to try anything new; they don’t want to be the first to try it. We’ve had a lot of success on the racetrack, however, with horses that we’ve utilized it on,” Don says.
“We first introduced this equine product in April 2015, but I have been using the human version for quite a while. I got into it because
I had a horse with suspensory problems and began using this on him. Within 24 hours, I was seeing a difference. The horse was moving a lot better. This started us on a project with the inventor, Fran Powell, to create an equine application.” The result was Microlief®.
“There is a lot of science behind the human applications, but we are now beginning some
studies with horses, particularly with tendons and ligaments, which are the easiest to evaluate in their healing progress. I’ve use the microcur- rent stimulation all over the body and for pre- event competition, but people still want to see evidence. There are hundreds of articles about it for human use and double blind placebo studies, but horsemen still want to see some horse studies, so we are starting to put those together, and they will be accomplished in the next couple of years,” says Don.
“This is the next generation of leg work for equine athletes, especially racehorses. I have done a lot of leg work because this is what I’ve specialized in. We are currently meeting with some veterinarians and other individuals to put the studies together and for these first ones, we will concentrate on tendons and ligaments in the lower legs. Utilizing ultrasound, we can assess progress in healing. We have one university in mind and a couple others that are also interested in doing these studies. Since we are in horse country here in Ocala, we are also looking at doing some studies locally as well,” he says.
“This will give people more confidence that it works. People are always sitting on
the bridge; they don’t want to move off or
do anything unless someone recommends this. Horsemen want some confirmation, even though there have already been a lot of human studies. That’s what attracted me to this product, all the human studies that were very positive in the scientific world. But in the equine world, people are still a bit skeptical even though there’s not that much difference between horses and humans as far as the way our bodies work, especially muscle tissue, tendons and ligaments,” he says.
How It works
Microcurrent therapy is simply the applica- tion of very low levels of electrical stimula- tion to muscles, tendons and ligaments. The
The unit is small and easily affixed to the area where you want to target the electrical stimulation, whether on the horse’s fetlock joint, leg, knee or hock, or some other area
SPEEDHORSE, July 2016 57
equine health