Chronic Lameness and Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy--Advanced Treatment Offered at ISU Vet Med

Chronic equine lameness plagues many owners, trainers, and veterinarians in the field today. It is always exciting to learn that a new technique is available to help heal chronically lame patients, but it is even more exciting to say that a new technique with so much promise is being utilized right here at our own institution! I am talking about Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy or ESWT for acronym junkies. It is a noninvasive procedure used to treat certain forms of chronic equine lameness that have not been amenable to proper healing. First used on humans in the 1980s to treat kidney and gall stones and now approved by the FDA to treat orthopedic conditions such as heel spurs in humans, shock wave therapy is being utilized in veterinary medicine to treat equine orthopedic conditions that cause lameness