Treatment of the tendons
It is currently a well-known fact that it is not always possible to cure diseases and lameness only with medication and surgical intervention. Therefore, the interest towards physical therapy both in human and veterinary practice has recently been steadily growing throughout the world.
The chance of recovery considerably increases with treatment strategies developed by using available knowledge on anatomy, biomechanics, tissue physiology and cellular biology in particular. Even though numerous treatment methods based on different principles are available, the main purpose of all these methods is to make the tissue recover its former health structure and function.
The duration of physical therapy applications varies depending on the seriousness of the problem and for how long it has existed. In order to ensure targeted healing, we must abide by the treatment plan which is established by considering the special status of each horse (the seriousness of the problem, horse's age, racing/competition conditions etc.) and which could sometimes last weeks. In some cases, with a few applications, there could be surprising significant amelioration in the movements of the horse and in the problematic tissues.
Disorders of the musculoskeletal system are quite often accompanied by tensions and contractions of the muscular systems. The limbs as an affected area show lameness whereas muscular problems of the neck are displayed as palpable contractions and discomfort during riding. There can be different causes for contractions in the muscular systems which often lead to pain. Horses try to avoid this pain by means of a relief posture or withdrawal actions. They start to take short and stiff steps in trot in particular instead of showing free and flexible strides. Being scarcely perceptible these symptoms are hard to identify. Initial signs like reduced muscular flexibility and irregularities of the gait are often ignored. Practice showed that traditional treatment with conventional diagnostic and therapeutic conception is insufficient and prohibitive in many cases. Thus, an innovative holistic approach has been established and brought out for purposes of daily application for all practical purposes. The result is the new method – Matrix Rhythm Therapy – as an outcome of pure research into molecular cell biology.
Even when no health problems are observed in horses competing in disciplines require high performance such as racing, show-jumping, dressage and endurance, if applied on a regular basis, this therapy increases the elasticity, working capacity and stamina of the muscles and tendons. As a consequence, the stride length, the ability to stretch during flat work and jumping and therefore the performance increases.