What is pedalostities??

[blondicms5]

my horse recently has been diagnosed with pedalostities? The tissue by the pedal bone is severly inflammed and bruised and the tip of the pedal bone is disappearing. He is currently barefoot and on inflammatory and blood thinners?? What should i do? and what is this really/caused by?

[Rick Burten]

Pedalosteitis is somewhat of a misnomer as it implies an inflammation of actual bone. However, as you have noted, there is a severe inflammation of the soft tissues surrounding the coffin(pedal)bone and as the syndrome progresses, bone loss. It is associated with severe or chronic sole bruising which results from repeated concussion during exercise on hard ground. That said, the syndrome/disorder is always associated with ongoing/chronic inflammation of the foot. Some factors that have been shown to influence pedal osteitis include, chronic corns, laminitis, puncture wounds, bruised soles and conformation faults.

Treatment of pedal osteitis can take many forms. All are dependant on first discovering the cause. If deep, severe, chronic sole bruising is the primary cause, then treatment is designed to reduce the inflammation and minimize concussion to the foot. Additionally, rest, NSAIDS, and no work on hard rocky surfaces will work in the short term. Long term, the conservation of sole, and the application of a wide webbed, deep seated shoe may be all that is required. As in every instance, the breakover must be properly located, heel support must be correct, and balance, both in the A/P and M/L aspects must be determined and undertaken. If the horse is typically thin soled, than the topical application of a sole toughner is indicated. If the walls are too thin to hold nails securely, or the horse is too sore to have shoes nailed on, then shoes can be glued in place. The addition of a hospital plate may be indicated. Severe cases may take a year or longer to resolve, and the horse should always be managed in such a way so that the initiating causes are not again brought to bear.

So long as the feet are properly maintained, once the horse returns to soundness, light work can resume.

Rick

[Jaye Perry]

[QUOTE=Rick Burten]Pedalosteitis is somewhat of a misnomer .. However, there is a severe inflammation of the soft tissues surrounding the coffin(pedal)bone and as the syndrome progresses, bone loss. It is associated with severe or chronic sole bruising which results from repeated concussion during exercise on hard ground.

Here's a view :eek: :eek: :cool:

[jamesrooney]

A good question and the "treatment" described would be good for almost any foot. But the question, what is pedal osteitis, is really not answered. In fact there is no firm evidence, or even flimsy evidence, that such a condition exists. Inadequate radiographic technique and interpretation are the usual "causes" of this so-called entity. As has often been said: it is a diagnosis of the diagnostically destitute.

[Rick Burten]

Dr. Rooney

I referred to pedal osteitis as a syndrome . Do you think that this is a more accurate way of describing the condition?

Rick

[jamesrooney]

Rick, I know that "syndrome" is widely cited to explain pain arising in the foot, particularly usage such as navicular syndrome. In fact, calling something a syndrome does not explain anything and, I believe, simply obscures the fact that we don't know. I think we all are better served by simply saying "I don't know" and getting on with symptomatic treatment while trying, always, to learn more.
The dictionary definition of syndrome does not include this kind of usage. Roughly, off the top of my head, syndrome mearns a collection of signs which together add up to a specific entity. In present-day farrier and veterinary usage it has come to mean, "Darned if I know, but syndrome sounds good."
That is enough of my pedantry, but clarity is better than obfuscation every time!

[calshoer]

I fine it hard to believe that with expert and thorough radiographic technique, (including multiple views and multiple exposure settings) as well as radioactive scanning, the advent of the digital radiography and MRI for horses hooves that pedal osteitis can not be diagnosed. I have seen such incredible detail on films from the better radiologists that you can not convince me they have not acurately diagnosed inflammtion around the edge of the bone, (the periosteum shows up as inflammed on really good films ) or the resulting more permenant bone changes as it continues .
One of the more thorough vets I worked with in California was even able to do***ent via good radiographs some healing and apparently healthy remodeling of the edge the coffin bone over time (a year) Because the radiographic technique showed very clear detail, it was easy to see the changes in the bone edge from the first set of films to to the next. .

I could certainly agree that SOME pedal osteitis may be misdiagnosed by poor technique , but not all. Besides if it was not a real condition, how would you explain the ragged edges in harvested specimin coffin bones from these type of cases? Or the changes that almost always occur in the anterior third of club feet coffin bones? (the picture Rick supplied appears to be a club foot) Something has to trigger that consistant remodeling, so if not inflammation, what is it? . Patty

[jamesrooney]

First, the changes one sees at the toe with stump foot are avulsions of the attachments of the corium from the dorsal distal surface of the distal phalanx. Such avulsions are seen with stump foot (so-called deep flexor contracture) as well as in feet afflicted with road founder. They are properly diagnosed as avulsions and not as pedal osteitis.

Second, the changes descirbed on the sides of the distal phalanx are avulsions of corium from the lateral and/or medial sides of the bone associated with shearing/tearing of the improperly balanced foot. These changes often, but not inevitably, lead to ossification of the accessory cartilage.

If one chooses to lump all these specific avulsion lesions into the one category -pedal osteitis - of course, please do so. However, the case I make is that such nonspecific terminology is misleading and tends to muddle rather than clarify and define the several disorders of the foot.

That there are exquisetly careful and experienced readers of radiographs in California I can neither confirm nor deny. In my experience, covering a perhaps wider area, radiographs are often not so well done and not so well interpreted.
The diagnosis of pedal osteitis, unqualified, is, in those instances, either misleading or incorrect

[Rick Burten]

Dr. Rooney

I thank you for the clarifications and insights. My next question is, based on this information, why does a text such as "Adam's Lameness in Horses, fifth edition" not only describe what has been generally called Pedal Osteitis, but goes further to describe spetic pedal osteitis? And, why, inlight of the information available, do the Colleges of Veterinary Medicine continue to instruct about it? And, if veterinarians are going to continue to refer to various hoof pathologies under this seemingly vague terminology, what's a hard working farrier to do? :confused: After all, we don't want to contradict the attending veterinarian. It takes too long to establish a good working relationship in the first place.

Rick

[FrankLaursen]

Jaye
Do you have a frontal view of the foot in question I am curious to see if it is club or is a evident of something else

Frank

[jamesrooney]

Rick, I sympathize. Unhappily, what I have to say on these matters seems to be largely ignored by my veterinary (sic) colleagues). You must do what you have to do to survive in the real world. It is, of course, possible that I am talking nonsense, and all the other vets have it right. You, in the final analysis, must read what I say and hear what they say and decide for yourself.
I hope you read my last post in response to Patty, a very bright lady, who really may not be hearing what I am saying

[Jaye Perry]

Jaye
Do you have a frontal view of the foot in question I am curious to see if it is club or is a evident of something else
Frank


Frank this is not a "stumpy" or "club foot". These feet are of an Appy that was used for fox hunting in the great state of Maryland. I missed two shoeing trips to Maryland a few years ago and another ferrous shod the horse. it was determined by the ferrous that the Appy needed the infamous NBS shoes and the it's protocal. The application was for two shoeing cycles. This is what i found in the bottom of both feet when I returned from abroad. The application was made by a recognized and acredited ferrous.

Here are both feet, one can see bilateral bruising

[Jaye Perry]

Rick, I sympathize. Unhappily, what I have to say on these matters seems to be largely ignored by my veterinary (sic) colleagues). You must do what you have to do to survive in the real world. It is, of course, possible that I am talking nonsense, ........must read what I say and hear what they say and decide for yourself.
I hope you read my last post in response to Patty, a very bright lady, who really may not be hearing what I am saying


In the world of farriery one has to have a mix of the old and the new.
We are mechanics, nothing more nothing less. A study of mechanics will enhance a farrier's knowledge of the "whole" horse far more than any micro studies or new and improved shoeing protocals will ever.
Kappy Kaplin-"The only thing we can do as farrier's is line up the bones and from there make sure everything working like it suppose to"

[Rick Burten]

[QUOTE=Jaye Perryd
another ferrous shod the horse. .......it was determined by the ferrous....... The application was made by a recognized and acredited ferrous. [/QUOTE]

Hey Jaye,

whats a "ferrous"? And, how to you become "a recognized and acredited ferrous"?

Inquiring minds just want to know! :D

Rick

[Jaye Perry]

[QUOTE=Jaye Perryd
another ferrous shod the horse. .......it was determined by the ferrous....... The application was made by a recognized and acredited ferrous.

Hey Jaye,

whats a "ferrous"? And, how to you become "a recognized and acredited ferrous"?

Inquiring minds just want to know! :D

Rick[/QUOTE]

Main Entry: fer·rous
Pronunciation: 'fer-&s
Function: adjective
Etymology: New Latin ferrosus, from Latin ferrum
1 : of, relating to, or containing iron,one who works with iron

reconized ferrous- one who has written and has cir***luetion of his/her trade.
acredited ferrous- one who has been tested and has aquired a level of achievement working with fire and iron.
:D

[TE Couch]

Jaye - the bruising in your photo looks like the outline of P3 - the white line is wide and the horn appears to be poor quality - looks to me that this horse has a poor laminar connection - the coffin bone is pressing on the sole corium upon weight bearing - the damaged corium produces the bruised sole material - pressure to the tip and/or bottom of p3 destroys bone material sometime very quickly - upon xray this is diagnosed as pedal osteitis - this is a condition I have routinely seen in founder horses and horses with steep bone alignment. Seems to me that bone cannot be inflamed, corium can be - so there are 2 different things going on - a cause and an effect that are lumped together.
TE

[Jaye Perry]

Jaye - the bruising in your photo looks like the outline of P3 - the white line is wide and the horn appears to be poor quality - looks to me that this horse has a poor laminar connection - the coffin bone is pressing on the sole corium upon weight bearing - the damaged corium produces the bruised sole material - pressure to the tip and/or bottom of p3 destroys bone material sometime very quickly - upon xray this is diagnosed as pedal osteitis - this is a condition I have routinely seen in founder horses and horses with steep bone alignment. Seems to me that bone cannot be inflamed, corium can be - so there are 2 different things going on - a cause and an effect that are lumped together.
TE

I'll look through mi pics and see if i did take some lateral pics of thi Appy's feet. It may take a day or so, i have acouple of thousand. :)

[Rick Burten]

Jaye

I don't think that in normal usage, a person is an adjective(i.e. ferrous), rather a noun(i.e. farrier) :o . That said, I have probably ingested/inhaled enough iron(Fe) during my career as a farrier, to be at least partially (if not mainly)ferrous. :D So, by extrapolation, since I hold credentials in both the AFA and GPF, I suppose this makes me a ferrously recognized and accredited farrier. KEWL!

Rick

[Jaye Perry]

Jaye
So, by extrapolation, since I hold credentials in both the AFA and GPF, I suppose this makes me a ferrously recognized and accredited farrier. KEWL!
Rick


The exstrapolation is correct, "maras'hall ferrant'. French for Hufsmeid, :p

[Ronald Aalders]

Back to the bruises in the foot guys.......

When presented with such bruises the first thing that comes to my mind is that bruises like the one in the pictures are caused by P3 having a hard time to rotate the foot. Or maybe not being supported enough. In such situations you can imagine P3 crushing (hair)vessels underneath it causing some of them to rupture. The blood would enter the sole tubules and cause the red stains.

More or less along the lines TE Couch mentioned.

I don't think this necessarily means P3 is affected in any way.


Ronald Aalders