Using an Acuscope on a Horse
The Pet: Nugget the horse. He's a thoroughbred horse and he actually used to run races when he was younger. Now he's Ms. Muller's pet and she rides him for fun and his life is a lot easier now than it used to be. He enjoys eating and playing with his other horsey friends at the barn.
Diagnosis: In the Summer of 2019 Nugget was diagnosed with an "upper suspensory ligament injury." It is bright yellow in this picture below and the part that Nugget injured is part of the "proximal suspensory ligament."
Symptoms: He was "lame" which means he had a bad limp and a sore swollen legs. Ligaments take a long time to heal, but Nugget will get better.
Solution: We had to do several things to help his legs get better including feeding him supplements (vitamins), wrapping his legs with special medicines, running cold water over the injury to reduce swelling (like putting an icepack on), making him rest in his stall instead of running outside with his friends and taking him on walks by hand, but one cool thing we tried was the acuscope.
Acuscope: The acuscope sends electricity through the body to stimulate the nervous system which can help things heal. It is not an electric shock and does not hurt the animal it is used on, they may not notice it at all or they might actually like it because they start to feel better when it is being used. To run an electric current you need a positive (+) end and a negative end (-), like on a battery, these "ends" are called electrodes. The electricity will run between the positive and negative ends.
How it was used: The positive electrode was placed above the horses shoulder at the base of the neck known as the "withers" and the negative end is the wand-thing with the red handle in the picture. The negative end is pressed against and moved around the injured parts of the legs. To help the electricity flow through all of the skin and hair on the horse we added ultrasound gel which is just special goey stuff that washes off with water and helps conduct or carry the electricity. This gel goes wherever the electrodes will be placed, on his withers and smeared all over his legs.
About this science: Usually people think of electricity as a type of physical science or "Physics." Many people are afraid of "physics" thinking its hard and complicated and only for "rocket scientists." This proves that its NOT! Physics is really important for people in lots of different jobs including people who take care of animals, like Ms. Muller and her horse! Also, everyone uses electricity every day and understanding it can help you fix things from lights to cellphones and computers. If you can fix these things yourself you can save yourself A LOT of money. If you can fix these things for other people you can MAKE A LOT of money! You can find good jobs working with electricity without too much extra schooling by going to trade schools like BOCES. Trade schools are a great place to get into after you graduate if you are someone who wants to work with your hands!