CRT, CEKP, CELT, CEMT, CTPT, VT
Equine Rehabilitation
Nestled in the tranquil Black Forest of Northern Colorado Springs, we provide a boutique atmosphere and low-key healing environment. EER was designed to promote a safe and rapid advancement for horses recovering from injury. We give your horse every chance to make a successful return to performance by providing a variety of the latest effective physical therapy options that allows your horse to receive the care that benefits most. Our skilled staff is thoroughly trained and knowledgeable, with a passion for horses and the desire to see your horse return rehabilitated, reconditioned and ready to perform.
How we help
We provide post-surgical and post-injury veterinary support and rehabilitation services with the latest techniques and non-invasive modalities at our boutique, case-focused facility conveniently located in Northern Colorado Springs.
EER
HOLISTIC PRACTICE
PHILOSOPHY
Elite Equine Rehab has developed a treatment approach that combines conventional medicine with alternative therapies to promote healing and ease discomfort. There's no arguing that good nutrition can prevent injuries and be used as therapy when healing as well. Protein, fats, minerals, and vitamins are all critical to health and healing. Here at EER, we feed a proprietary blend of herbs such as white willow bark, Maritime pine bark, devil’s claw, millet, linseed, comfrey, yarrow, and horsetail can support and stimulate the horse’s healing potential by working with its body. Rehabilitative exercises are also essential to promote and facilitate progression in recovery without re-injury.
While working trackside, on farms calls and in surgery suite alongside some of the performance horse industry's leading veterinarians, Gina developed a passion for rehabbing these incredible athletes. With the thought of getting the horses back to performing at optimal level in the least amount of time, she realized the importance of incorporating techniques that also help ensure the horse remains comfortable and that there will be a lower level of recurrence of injury once back to work. While there is certainly a place in the rehabilitation process for more western medicine, we believe in utilizing a more integrative approach to treatment. The treatment protocol plays a critical role in supporting horses during their rehabilitation phase after a surgical procedure or injury. Proper equine rehabilitation requires time, patience, and flexibility to ensure successful healing of the injured horse. While veterinary care is essential for the horse’s recovery, a holistic approach that includes physiotherapy, proper nutrition, exercise, and equine therapeutic massage and other bodywork modalities can aid in the recovery process, help prevent further injuries, and facilitate a faster recovery.
"When you touch one thing with deep awareness,
you touch everything."
- Lao Tzu
Cutting Edge LASER Therapy
PEMF with Centurion
LASER Therapy
PEMF
We use LASER therapy regularly to treat muscle injury or soreness, tendon and ligament injuries, and wounds. Lasers are grouped by wavelength, output power, and emittance mode, ranging from Class I to Class IV. In general, light treatment increases blood flow and lymphatic drainage and triggers cell processes that promote healing. Recent study results are confirming laser therapy significantly improves short- and long-term healing of wound, tendon and ligament lesions, creating an exciting option for treating these soft tissue injuries.
Equine Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy is a non-invasive treatment that uses electromagnetic fields to stimulate cells and promote natural cellular regeneration and vigor in horses 1. It is used to treat a variety of conditions in horses, including hoof and joint issues, tendon and ligament injuries, sore backs, inflammation, gastric ulcers, laminitis, stone bruises, and more.
PEMF therapy for horses accelerates healing and quick recovery from injuries, as well as faster recovery after a long day of work or a hard race. It’s used to heal bone fractures and repair cracked hooves. Regular use of electromagnetic therapy can improve recovery time for horses by as much as 70%.
What makes the Centurion Therapulse Blanket unique is its ability to treat the entire body of the horse in one session. The blanket contains 10 coils placed strategically along its length in order to treat the horse as efficiently as possible.
Cold Compression
E-Stim
Game Ready combines cold and compression therapy to prevent and remove any active swelling when it occurs. It minimizes damage following injury and helps equine athletes heal faster during rehabilitation. The cold has a local anesthetic effect that can significantly reduce pain and inhibit reflexive muscle spasms in the horse. Early use of cold therapy can reduce primary bleeding through vasoconstriction and vasodilation, both of which inhibit swelling. The reduced tissue temperature will lower the metabolic rate of both the involved and uninjured cells, decreasing their demand for oxygen.
Simultaneously with cold therapy, Game Ready uses active and adjustable compression to eliminate swelling. Compression causes the horse’s muscles to contract and relax to push fluids and edema through the lymphatic drainage system. In addition, compression drives the cold therapy deeper into the tissues for longer lasting effects.
Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) uses specific electrical impulses to activate muscle groups. The activation of muscle works by boosting strength, reducing the negative effects of being laid-up, and improving range of motion. NMES treatments reduce muscle spasms and pain, while also increasing blood flow to the muscle.
NMES is applied with small electrode pads that are placed over the target muscles. A compact control unit (usually smaller than a cell phone) is used to adjust the waveform, strength of impulse, and time of the treatment.
Shockwave
EquiVibe Plate
Shockwave
Vibration Therapy
Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT) is an emerging new technology for treating musculoskeletal problems, soft tissue injuries and bone injuries in horses. ESWT is non-invasive, used to stimulate healing to return horses to a level of fully sound, useful activity without recurrence of disease.
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The machine generates high-intensity acoustic waves, which pulse to a localized site within the injured tissue. to cause localized microtrauma that stimulates the bodies natural healing processes. The shock waves are believed to stimulate angiogenesis / neovascularization (new blood vessels) and neurogenesis (new nerve cells). The microtrauma increases local circulation and enhances breakdown of calcifications (calcium build-up).
Outside of conditioning soft tissues and developing muscles, which leads to increased strength and equine bone density, one of the immediate effects of WBV (whole body vibration) on the EquiVibe platform is improved lymphatic and blood circulation.
Improved circulation is of significant benefit to the equine athlete, because increased blood flow improves oxygenation of the tissues, supporting the removal of toxins and metabolic waste, which boosts the immune system and enhances the body’s natural ability to stay healthy and heal itself drug free, which translates into less illness, soreness and especially – injury prevention.
Therapeutic Massage
Chinese Herbal Medicine
Equine massage therapy is a form of bodywork designed explicitly for horses. It involves the manipulation of the soft tissues of the horse’s body, such as muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia, through various techniques to promote relaxation, relieve pain and tension, and improve overall well-being.
Chinese medicine has been used for centuries to treat horses. According to an article in Equine Wellness Magazine, each horse embodies common physical and behavioral characteristics of the Five Elements of Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM) - Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. By understanding how Five Elements and their patterns relate to your horse, you can learn how to keep your horse healthy and happy on a deep, lasting level of wellness. We work closely with Dr. Melanie Robinson, DVM with Equine Health Services to provide these services on a case-by-case basis.
Kinesiology Taping
Bodywork
"KT Taping" method is a definitive rehabilitative taping technique that is designed to facilitate the body’s natural healing process while providing support and stability to muscles and joints without restricting the body’s range of motion as well as providing extended soft tissue manipulation to prolong the benefits of manual therapy administered within the clinical setting. Latex-free and wearable for days at a time, EquiTape is safe for populations ranging from pediatric to geriatric equine, and successfully treats a variety of orthopedic, neuromuscular, neurological and other medical conditions. The EquiTape Taping Method was specifically developed for horses with a uniquely patterned, heat activated adhesive. This is a therapeutic taping technique not only offering your horse the support they are looking for, but also rehabilitating the affected condition as well. By targeting different receptors within the somatosensory system, EquiTape alleviates pain and facilitates lymphatic drainage by microscopically lifting the skin. This lifting affect forms convolutions in the skin thus increasing interstitial space and allowing for a decrease in inflammation of the affected areas.
Bodywork is a gentle, non-invasive, complementary therapy that uses soft touch to address structural, physiological, behavioral and emotional issues to optimize performance. Bodywork includes body balancing techniques, physical touch and energy work that target the musculoskeletal system to address asymmetries of the equine body – specifically, soft tissue, nervous system and fascia.
Ultrasound
Acupuncture
Contact Us
1670 Spring Valley Dr.
Colorado Springs, CO 80921
719-428-0104