October
OctoberTendon facts
I write in response to Dr Eoin Kelly (2/10), who felt it necessary to write to Your Say about trainer Allison Bennett’s success at rehabilitating Juan Carlos to race five months after a bowed tendon.
Dr Kelly accused Allison of claiming to know better than "common" veterinary practice and stated that Allison had a "poor understanding of the condition". It seems that it makes Dr Kelly’s job more difficult when anyone dares to suggest that tendon injuries could possibly be managed better than by this same "common" veterinary practice.
As director of a specialist medical unit at a tertiary hospital, the constant peer review and scrutiny I am under means there is no room for delusions of grandeur or a "Doctor knows best" attitude in 2010.
I am presently supervising a PhD student who is working in a leading Melbourne stable on a project which will marry a new ultrasound method with a full pathological assessment of naturally occurring tendon injuries as well as looking at a novel genetic change which potentially predisposes horses to tendon injuries.
My co-supervisor in this project is the world-leading tendon researcher Professor Jill Cook, who has previously been Olympic physiotherapist and physio to the Australian women’s basketball and netball teams, prior to becoming a full-time tendon researcher 15 years ago.
The advice we gave to Allison was in relation to a new model of tendon injury and management as proposed by Professor Cook.
At various stages a number of medications are used and the critical thing is the loading the tendon receives. When rehabilitating a tendon the type, amount and timing of exercise is crucial to a positive response.
It has also been shown that rest is profoundly bad for tendons but the "common" veterinary advice continues to be to rest the horse.
Winning Post readers would understand that if Nick Riewoldt were told to lie on the couch for six months and then go into normal training his chance of a successful outcome would be poor, but this advice is given by "common" veterinary practice every day.
We have been overwhelmed by the support and buy-in we have received from many clinically hardened and prominent vets with the research we are doing to this point. It has been rare that we have not received a positive response but we understand that everyone needs to come around to new concepts at their own pace. Some will never come around due to reasons of ego and other psychological traits. A minority, despite a tertiary degree, are just incapable of original thought.
Allison is fortunate to have a tertiary science degree, which meant she was able to fully understand the training practicalities of the new tendon model and has now got five out of five horses back with tendon injuries. One horse was unraced and had bowed the same tendon three times. It won its first start as a five-year-old and continues to be sound.
It was unfortunate that Juan Carlos received a positive test to an anti-inflammatory, which was most likely due to contamination from residue of the drug on a bandage. Readers need to understand that a minuscule, non-effective amount of a non-performance enhancing drug was detected.
I would be happy to meet with Dr Kelly to elaborate further on the tendon work we are doing so he can make an informed assessment, instead of writing letters to Your Say without full possession of all facts.
Alphington (Vic)