The Power of PEMF for Horses

What is PEMF and How Does It Benefit Horses?

• Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy sends electromagnetic fields to tissues and bones in specific body parts.

• This therapy originated when clever researchers discovered that when bones are stressed during weight-bearing activities, they make an electrical current. This is unsurprising, as electricity is part of every living being. During stressful times, the bone cells themselves induced this current.

• The next step for the bone is to respond to this electrical stimulation by remodeling bone. Remodeling happens naturally, and it’s thought that PEMF will boost healing remodeling without adding additional forces to the bone.

• The waves can penetrate deeper tissues compared to other therapies, such as shockwave or therapeutic ultrasound.

• There are many types of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy machines, as well as related straps and coils, to cover your horse and deliver the treatment. Most horses stand willingly and quietly for their sessions. But the jury is still out about its effectiveness.

Key Mechanisms of Action for PEMF in Horses

• As more research uncovers how PEMF works, we do have a basic understanding of the mechanisms.

• It’s believed that the electromagnetic field acts upon particles in and around cells. This action may trigger the cell membrane to be more permeable, allowing nutrients and waste to pass more easily in and out of the cell.

• It may also act upon adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the primary energy source for cells. More ATP for cells means better metabolism, improved healing, and decreased inflammation.

Why use PEMF?

• It’s always nice to support our horses’ health with non-invasive therapies to help their bodies feel better. Like humans, aches and pains are associated with exercise, disease, aging, and injuries.

• This therapy can target specific locations, such as the hocks, or more general areas, like the back or neck. It’s also understood to work on bone, muscle, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and soft tissue injuries at the cellular level, although research has yet to confirm this.

• There are also no medications needed with PEMF. It’s unlikely that a horse would require sedation for this easy procedure, but there may be some instances where it is necessary.

When to Use PEMF for Horses – Consult Your Veterinarian

• Non-invasive therapies for horses, such as icing, massage, chiropractic care, or PEMF, are great as they don’t require sedation, there is no need to inject anything, and they are well tolerated by horses. Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy doesn’t require a veterinarian’s presence, but it’s always best to consult with your veterinarian to ensure that any PEMF treatments are appropriate for your horse.

• PEMF could be an excellent plan in addition to other therapies. You and your vet can also determine a treatment timeline and schedule rechecks to monitor progress. Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy practitioners should be well-versed in collaborations with veterinary professionals.

How PEMF Affects Tissue – From Ears to Hoof

• All tissue types may benefit from pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, like bone, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, and more.

The Benefits to Bone

• Bones are seemingly solid structures, but they are constantly changing. Two primary cell types, osteoblasts and osteoclasts, are continually at work within bones. Osteoclasts break down old bone tissue, as osteoblasts build new bone. Together, they perform bone remodeling, a process that involves regenerating and strengthening bones.

• Can PEMF stimulate osteoblast activity to form new bone? Maybe? With a bone injury, this increased activity may improve healing and shorten healing time.

Cartilage Can Benefit from PEMF

• In the joints, cartilage acts as a cushion between the bones, preventing bone-on-bone scraping. Cartilage can thin over time or suffer an injury, such as a tear.

• Cartilage cells, named chondrocytes, are cells that function to maintain the health of cartilage. Chondrocytes produce and maintain the extracellular matrix (ECM) in joints. The ECM is a web of proteins and other molecules that support cells in tissues and organs. Think of the ECM as an adhesive that gives structural support.

• Chondrocytes also respond to mechanical forces affecting your horse. They also play a role in swelling and immune reactions in a joint. Conditions such as osteoarthritis and joint injuries can disrupt chondrocyte function, leading to cartilage degradation and associated joint pain.

How PEMF affects cartilage

• Chondrocyte activity is boosted by pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, and includes boosting the production of ECM components to keep cartilage healthy and supple. The increased blood flow may also help nutrient delivery to the area, which may help with overall health and healing.

• PEMF therapy has shown promise in enhancing the metabolism of chondrocytes, promoting their regeneration and function. By stimulating these cells, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy can help increase the production of collagen and glycosaminoglycans, essential components that contribute to cartilage resilience.

• PEMF may also strengthen connections surrounding tendons and ligaments, which are vital for soundness and mobility. Tears and injuries to tendons and ligaments require significant time to recover, and PEMF for horses may aid in that healing process.

PEMF as an Anti-Inflammatory

• Blood flow brings oxygen and nutrients and aids in removing cellular waste products, including those caused by inflammation and injury. PEMF enhances blood flow to treated areas and may reduce the production of inflammatory chemicals. This breaks the cycle of ongoing inflammation that leads to pain and stiffness in conditions like arthritis.

Practical Applications of Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy for Horses

• The versatility of PEMF therapy may benefit many aspects of equine health. New injuries, including tendon and ligament damage, as well as ongoing conditions such as arthritis and back pain, may benefit from this novel treatment. There are many possible applications for this non-invasive therapy.

Wounds

• Wound healing in horses, especially large open wounds, can be tough. Researchers are investigating electromagnetic field therapy, also known as pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, as a potential tool to aid in this process.

Muscle pain

• Muscle pain and soreness are common in equine athletes and often result from excessive work or injury.   PEMF therapy may help reduce this muscle pain by reducing inflammation and improving blood circulation.

• It’s believed that pulsed electromagnetic field therapy reaches deep into tissues and may therefore help ease muscle spasms, decrease pain, and support healing. Better blood flow helps deliver oxygen to the muscles and removes waste products that can cause pain and stiffness.

• Also, PEMF therapy may improve the range of motion, which can be limited by pain and inflammation.

Tendon and ligament damage

• Tendons and ligaments are crucial for movement, but they receive limited blood flow, making healing challenging. Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy is a possible treatment for these tough injuries.

• PEMF therapy may help with tendon and ligament injuries by increasing blood circulation and boosting cell activity. With improved blood flow to the injured area, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy delivers key nutrients and growth factors.

Joint health

• PEMF therapy has anti-inflammatory properties that can help reduce joint pain. By reducing inflammation in the joint, PEMF can alleviate pain, reduce stiffness, and enhance mobility. Additionally, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy is believed to promote cartilage growth, which is crucial for maintaining joint function.

Bone health

• The pulsed electromagnetic field devices may penetrate bone tissue. This process activates cells called osteoblasts, which help build new bone. This can accelerate healing for fractures and strengthen bones.

Neurological diseases

• The use of PEMF therapy to treat neurological diseases in horses is a growing area of research. Although it is still relatively new, some studies suggest that pulsed electromagnetic field therapy may be beneficial for certain neurological conditions.

• The electromagnetic field may affect nerve cell activity and lower inflammation in the nervous system. These effects could help address issues involving nerve damage or swelling, such as equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM).

• It is essential to note that you should only use PEMF therapy for neurological diseases (and any other condition or injury) under the guidance of your veterinarian.

What Science Says About PEMF for Horses

There are many studies about the novel approach to equine health.

The master’s thesis

A graduate-level thesis written by a University of Tennessee student examined how equestrians use PEMF and the measurable results obtained, which were none.

“In this study, PEMF showed an acute lower HR immediately following treatment, showing PEMF as a potential way to mitigate stress. Other parameters such as stride length, stride rate, scored trot quality, and salivary cortisol concentrations were unaffected by pulsed electromagnetic field therapy. Further research is needed to validate lameness locator results of forehand and hindlimb variability. Scored walk quality decreasing after PEMF was an unexpected result of the study especially since stride length at the walk tended to increase over time. Judges did exhibit a wide range of scores on the immediate sampling of walk post PEMF treatment. There is still much research needed on PEMF’s effects on the performance horse. Results of this study do show a single treatment of PEMF can have a relaxing effect on the horse, along with a possible improvement of forehand variability. Research regarding multiple PEMF treatments and their effects is still needed.”

Read the entire thesis here.

Another thesis about the lower legs

This study acknowledges the numerous limitations of PEMF studies, which, of course, need to be addressed for further research. Notably are the limitations created by:

• A lack of consistent standards for measuring electric or magnetic fields.
• A missing informed strength level on the PEMF device
• Missing oscillation frequency and Gauss strength indicators from the manufacturer

It’s impossible to reliably study and compare research when the standards are not known.

Most importantly, this study concluded that increased blood flow did not occur:

“Pulsed electromagnetic fields therapy treatments to the hoof, fetlock and carpus on horses were found to have no effect on surface area temperatures nor measurable plasma concentrations of adenosine. This could indicate that there was a lack of increased blood flow to the area because vasodilation did not occur. This is meaningful as there is currently no research on the effect of PEMF on the distal limbs of horses.”

You can read this thesis here.

PEMF and sole depth

This study analyzed a group of Thoroughbreds and measured the sole depth of the hoof to discover if electromagnetic fields can improve sole depth. The results are mixed, and the primary conclusion is that more study is needed with a larger sample size.

Researchers found that the right hoof experienced an increase in sole depth, but they are stumped as to why this was only observed in one hoof. They explain:

“It is unknown why only the right hoof responded to treatment, although we hypothesize that this may be due to the dissymmetry in the hooves of the animals enrolled prior to treatment. Eight of the ten animals were thoroughbreds, and this breed is commonly described as having asymmetrical feet [5], [23]. This asymmetry, commonly referred to a high/low mismatched forefeet can cause compensatory changes in the muscling of body, the weight load of soft tissue structures, in addition to stride symmetry [24]. While average pre-treatment sole depth did not differ when comparing groups (PEMF vs. Control), the range of sole depth noted between animal was vast, ranging from 8 to 19 mm at the apex of the P3 and 13–33 mm at the proximal processes. Additionally, palmar angle ranged from 0.7° to 8.6°, indicating dissimilarities between horse. These ranges indicate that while some of the horses entered the study with poor hoof structure, others did not, and therefore an animal (and foot) specific response would be expected (Fig. 4), possible explaining the impact on a single hoof.”

You can read the study here.

Back temperatures and polo ponies

Researchers investigated pulse electromagnetic field therapy and its effects on horses’ backs to try and correlate the therapy with increased temperatures on polo pony backs. This would mimic increased blood flow to the area.

What they found was that there was NO difference between using a pulsed electromagnetic field therapy blanket and a non-PEMF blanket.

“The results of the study do not support the hypothesis that 50 μT PEMFs lead to an increase in surface temperature when applied to horses’ backs. After removing the blankets, the average temperature was increased by 0.69 K and it did not return to the initial level within 30 min. There was no statistically significant difference between the PEMF and placebo control. The increase in surface temperature of the skin is likely to result from the covering with the blanket and not from the PEMF itself.”

Read this study here.

Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy and stress levels

This study analyzed the effects of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy on a horse’s stress levels, as measured by salivary cortisol levels, a standard method for stress measurement.

The conclusion is that PEMF for horses did not reduce the stress levels of horses. Interestingly, the researchers observed that stress levels decreased while wearing the blankets, possibly due to the warmth and weight.

“The results indicated that horses did not show an increase in stress behaviors while wearing the blankets, nor did they show an increase in salivary cortisol when comparing pre- and post-session values. However, horses did exhibit an increase in relaxation behaviors while wearing the blankets, indicating that the weight or heat of the blankets could possibly have had a relaxing effect. While the direct effect of weighted blankets on horse relaxation has not been empirically explored, prior research has investigated the positive effects of physical restraint and weight on alleviating stress.”

PEMF therapy may be a helpful non-invasive way to improve the health of horses. Hopefully, there will soon be standard guidelines for power, frequency, and treatment methodologies that govern further studies and current treatment protocols. Until then, consult with your veterinarian and mind the research. Luckily, the use of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy is non-invasive.