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. 2019 Sep 13;63(3):439-445.
doi: 10.2478/jvetres-2019-0050. eCollection 2019 Sep.

The Use of the Water Treadmill for the Rehabilitation of Musculoskeletal Injuries in the Sport Horse

Ana Muñoz  1   2 , Aritz Saitua  2 , Mireya Becero  2 , Cristina Riber  1   2 , Katy Satué  3 , Antonia Sánchez de Medina  1   4 , David Argüelles  4 , Cristina Castejón-Riber  2   5
Affiliations

The Use of the Water Treadmill for the Rehabilitation of Musculoskeletal Injuries in the Sport Horse

Ana Muñoz et al. J Vet Res. .

Abstract

In recent years, exercise on a water treadmill has come to have great relevance in rehabilitation and training centres for sport horses. Its use exploits certain physical properties of water, related to the fundamental principles of hydrodynamics, such as buoyancy, viscosity, hydrostatic pressure, and water temperature. These properties together with deliberate specification of the depth of the water and the velocity of the treadmill provide a combination of parameters that can be varied according to the purpose of the rehabilitation or training programme, the disease to rehabilitate, or the healing phase. In the current article, kinematic adaptations to exercise on a water treadmill and the direct application of such exercise to the rehabilitation of superficial and deep digital flexor tendon and accessory ligament injuries and back and joint diseases are described.

Keywords: exercise; horse; rehabilitation; training; water.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Conflict of Interests Statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this article.

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