Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jor.20980

Effects of platelet‐rich plasma on the quality of repair of mechanically induced core lesions in equine superficial digital flexor tendons: A placebo‐controlled experimental study

Most soccer, rugby union, rugby league, American football, Australian football and Gaelic football competitions over the world are played on natural grass over seasons that commence in the early autumn (fall) and extend through winter. Injury surveillance in these competitions has usually reported high rates of injury to the lower limb and an increased incidence of injuries early in the season. This 'early-season' bias has not usually been reported in summer football competitions, or in sports played indoors, such as basketball. Although easily compared rates have not often been published there has also been a reported trend towards a greater injury incidence in football played in warmer and/or drier conditions. Injury incidence in American football played on artificial turf has often been reported to be higher than in games played on natural grass. This review concludes that the most plausible explanation for all of these reported findings involves variations in playing surface characteristics. Shoe-surface traction for the average player is the specific relevant variable that is most likely to correlate with injury incidence in a given game of football. Shoe-surface traction will usually have a positive correlation with ground hardness, dryness, grass cover and root density, length of cleats on player boots and relative speed of the game. It is possible that measures to reduce shoe-surface traction, such as, ground watering and softening, play during the winter months, use of natural grasses such as perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and player use of boots with shorter cleats, would all reduce the risk of football injuries. The most pronounced protective effect is likely to be on injuries to the lower limb of a noncontact nature, including anterior cruciate ligament injuries. Intervention studies should be performed, both using randomised and historical controls.

/pdf/is-there-a-relationship-between-ground-and-climatic-3nerfolgvs.pdf

Is there a relationship between ground and climatic conditions and injuries in football

Optimal management of tendon overuse injuries in equine and human athletes should avoid the formation of excessive scar tissue, regenerate normal tendon matrix, and reduce re-injury rates. We hypothesized that the implantation of marrow-derived stromal stem cells (BM-MSCs), in far greater numbers than are present normally within tendon tissue, would synthesize a matrix more closely resembling tendon matrix than scar tissue, and hence increase the capacity to return to performance successfully. This article reviews the technique used clinically in the horse and the current outcome data for horses treated by the autologous implantation of BM-MSCs into moderate to severe acute superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) injuries. Bone marrow was aspirated from the sternum under standing sedation. The nucleated adherent cell population (containing the BM-MSCs) were isolated and expanded so that, after approximately three weeks, the cells were re-suspended in the supernatant from the bone marrow and implanted into injured SDFT under ultrasonographic guidance. The horses then entered a 48-week rehabilitation period consisting of an ascending exercise regime. By September 2006, 168 racehorses had undergone this regimen. For horses which had returned to full work, 18% had re-injured, which compared favourably to previous studies on conventional management (56% re-injury rate). No adverse effects were noted other than needle tracts visible ultrasonographically. Autologous implantation of mesenchymal stem cells into tendon injuries may therefore improve clinical outcome although definitive proof of efficacy, which is still lacking, will require randomized controlled trials.

Mesenchymal stem cell therapy for equine tendinopathy

Autologous mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs) purified from bone marrow aspirates are being used in the treatment of superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) injuries in the horse with promising results. In this study the fate of autologous and allogeneic MPCs following injection into the SDFT was monitored by stable transfection of MPCs with green fluorescent protein (GFP). Small lesions were created manually in one forelimb SDFT of 2 horses and injected with autologous MPCs, allogeneic MPCs or bone marrow supernatant alone. Post mortem examinations performed after 10 or 34 days revealed GFP labelled cells located mainly within injected lesions, but with a small proportion integrated into the crimp pattern of adjacent healthy areas of tendon. Furthermore, there was no visible cell mediated immune response to allogeneic MPCs in either of the host horses.

https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2746/042516408X276942

Monitoring the fate of autologous and allogeneic mesenchymal progenitor cells injected into the superficial digital flexor tendon of horses: Preliminary study

For improvements to the safety and welfare of racehorses to be possible, it is essential to have access to basic descriptive information about the veterinary incidents encountered during horseracing. A 3 year surveillance study (1996-1998) was conducted by The Jockey Club into racing injuries, other postrace clinical problems and fatalities from all 59 British racecourses (mainland Britain only) to identify risk factors. During the survey there were 222,993 racing starts: 106,897 starts in flat races on turf (47.9%), 26,519 starts in flat races on all-weather surfaces (11.9%), 30,932 starts in chases on turf (13.9%), 51,786 starts in hurdle races on turf (23.2%) and 6,859 starts in National Hunt flat races (3.1%). Information was recorded about age of horses, racing surfaces and clinical events observed or attended by a veterinary team of 2 clinicians and one veterinary surgeon employed by the racing authority. Of the 2358 clinical events reported (1.05% of all starts), 1937 involved the musculoskeletal system and 421 involved other body systems. Six hundred and fifty-seven incidents (0.29% of starts) resulted in death or euthanasia. Eighty-one percent of limb injury reports involved forelimbs and 46% involved flexor tendons/suspensory ligaments. Nonlimb problems included epistaxis (0.83/1000 starts), 'exhausted horse syndrome' (0.47/1000 starts) and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (0.20/1000 starts). Incidents including fatalities per 1000 starts were 24.7 from chases, 19.45 from hurdle races, 8.46 from National Hunt flat races and 3.97 from flat races. The overall tendon injury was higher in chases than in hurdle races, even though age-specific rates of tendon injury were higher in hurdle races than in chases. The risk of injuries per start increased significantly with age, while softer racing surfaces were associated with fewer fatalities and injuries than firmer surfaces. The survey described in this paper has provided an up-to-date description of the fatal and non-fatal horseracing incidents under conditions on mainland Britain, enabling progress to be made towards improving the safety and welfare of racehorses.

Racehorse injuries, clinical problems and fatalities recorded on British racecourses from flat racing and National Hunt racing during 1996, 1997 and 1998

Summary
Reasons for performing study: The proposed biological mechanisms for exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage (EIPH) are many and varied. Better knowledge of risk factors should lead to achievable measures to reduce the incidence.

Objectives: To identify risk factors associated with epistaxis following racing in UK Thoroughbreds, to gain possible insights into the pathogenesis of the condition and to investigate the association between epistaxis and race finishing position.

Methods: The association of epistaxis occurring on UK racecourses between 1996 and 1998 with a wide range of race-, horse- and start-level variables was examined in multivariable mixed effect logistic regression analyses. Four multivariable analyses were conducted, one for all race types considered collectively and one each for flat, hurdle and steeplechase race types considered separately.

Results: Risk of epistaxis was significantly increased for hurdle and steeplechase race types compared to both flat and National Hunt flat races. In 3 of the 4 final models, there was a significant biological trend for increasing risk of epistaxis with increasing ground hardness (‘going’) and accumulated years spent racing. However, in flat races epistaxis was such a rare outcome (0.33 cases per 1000 starts) that this subset analysis had insufficient power to measure the detectable effect of ‘going’ as statistically significant. Horses with epistaxis were significantly more likely to have a poorer finishing position than those without blood at the nostrils.

Conclusions: Findings were consistent with the theory that locomotory impact-induced trauma contributes to exercise-induced epistaxis. Further validation of this hypothesis through application of similar methods to endoscopically visible EIPH and through biomechanical studies is warranted.

Potential relevance: Knowledge of significant risk factors should allow formulation of practical measures, such as track watering, to reduce the risks of EIPH and epistaxis in racehorses.

Risk factors for epistaxis on British racecourses : evidence for locomotory impact-induced trauma contributing to the aetiology of exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage

R. B. Williams

Papers

Racehorse injuries, clinical problems and fatalities recorded on British racecourses from flat racing and National Hunt racing during 1996, 1997 and 1998

Risk factors for epistaxis on British racecourses : evidence for locomotory impact-induced trauma contributing to the aetiology of exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage