By Heather Smith Thomas

A new method to help promote bone strength and density in horses utilizes whole body vibration, with the horse standing on a frequency-controlled vibration plate. This type of therapy has been in use for human medicine for more than 40 years—it was first used by the Russian space program in the 1960s to offset bone loss in space.

Dr. Clinton Rubin (Center for Biotechnology, State University of New York) has been the main researcher in the United States for human applications, which include helping prevent osteoporosis in the elderly and as an aid for stroke victims, patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), arthritis, cerebral palsy, and Parkinson’s disease. Human plates were developed in the 1990s, and today these vibration plates are used by various patients and by athletes. For instance, some professional golfers are using them to help warm up muscles. Vibration therapy seems to reduce pain, improve flexibility, and increase range of motion, muscle coordination, balance, and stability.

Bill Casner, co-owner of WinStar Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, learned about Rubin’s studies and thought this therapy might be beneficial to horses in athletic training.

Casner commented, “I read about Rubin’s first clinical trial in 2001. It showed a 34 percent increase in trabecular bone (the honeycomb interior in the ends of long bones). In this trial, they put the hind legs of sheep on the vibration plate for 20 minutes a day at a vibration frequency of 30 hertz. It increased density of bone without increasing bone diameter.”

Casner continued, “I thought about developing a plate for horses but still had some questions. I wondered about the effect it might have on growth plates in young horses. I put the idea on the back burner and continued to monitor the research. A couple recent studies showed the vibration therapy was actually very positive for adolescent humans, and one trial postulated that if employed in adolescence, this therapy would give a very positive carry-over into adulthood to prevent osteoporosis.”

Vibration stimulates the skeleton, which responds by forming more bone to resist this force.

Dr. Rubin’s latest trial, completed in September of 2009, showed there was also an increase in cartilage thickness over a six-week period.

“This is very exciting. We’re seeing a total adaptation of the bone; the entire bone, along with the cartilage, is adapting due to the mechanical stimulus,” asserted Casner.

Casner looked into the possibilities of having plates made for horses but did not find a company that was interested. Then Mary Knight, who works at Winner Circle ranch in Bradbury, California, called Casner to say she had found a company in Nebraska that had made one for her. Knight was the first person to have a vibration plate built for horses.

Knight explained, “My husband has Parkinson’s disease and was basically immobile, having problems with muscle cramps, poor circulation, etc. I went online to see what I could find that might help resolve these problems.

The VibePlate looked like it would work, and as I looked at the literature on it, I thought it might also help horses—especially horses standing in stalls all day, with compromised circulation.”

Knight tried the plate herself after purchasing one for her husband.

“I’d galloped horses for 30 years, had a dislocated hip, a reconstructed knee, double compound fracture of an ankle—old injuries that made it hard to sleep. After getting on the plate, I found most of those aches and pains were relieved,” Knight said.

Knight talked VibePlate into making a plate 40 inches by 80 inches and started trying it on horses.

“Don Shields, the veterinarian who owns Winners Circle ranch, was very supportive of my putting a plate on his ranch. I am also on the board of directors of the Thoroughbred Rehab Foundation. We take horses retiring off the track and rehab them for other careers,” she said.

Knight decided to try the vibration plate on some of the foundation’s horses.

“The first horse I put on it was Super Strut. His feet were bad, so I put new shoes on him about the same time we started him on the plate, and his feet grew 1.34 centimeters in 30 days in the dead of winter. I was very impressed,” Knight explained.

Casner also noticed this phenomenon. He now has a plate at WinStar and another at his ranch in Texas.

“We put horses on the vibration plate for 20 minutes a day, and they seem to love it. You start to see significant changes within four to six weeks. One of the things I noticed immediately is how much new hoof growth you get,” Casner explained. He continued, “Our horse Well Armed (who won the Dubai World Cup in 2009) had a chip removed off his sesamoid and had a small tear in the attached suspensory. I used vibration therapy as part of his rehab. In late November, I had ultrasounds done after 2.5 months which showed healing was complete. But one of my first observations was new hoof growth. The day I started him on the plate, I put a mark on his coronet band, then measured the hoof 6.5 weeks later and his foot had grown a full inch—which is about twice the rate of normal growth.”

Clinical trials have shown that vibration therapy stimulates nitric oxide and MMP, which are both vasodilators.

“These would help increase hoof growth. Vibration therapy could be very helpful in managing chronic laminitis, under-run heels, or thin soles. Blood circulation in the feet is always a challenge for racehorses,” asserted Casner.

He continued, “To me, this is one of the most exciting things that has come along in awhile. Implications for use are tremendous, not only for preserving and improving bone density (preventing bone failure), but also for helping with problems like sesamoiditis and high suspensory injuries.”

Casner feels vibration therapy holds a lot of promise for helping horses maintain soundness during their athletic careers.

It can also help stalled horses (recovering from injuries) keep from losing bone strength and density.

“Even horses that can be hand-walked 15 to 20 minutes per day are likely to experience some bone loss,” noted Knight. “Whole body vibration provides enough stimulus to bones to prevent this loss during prolonged periods of inactivity.”

Some trainers are starting to use vibration therapy as an aid in warm-up before racing. Knight sold her first prototype plate to Carl O’Calahan, who took it to Santa Anita, where Carl gallops his own horses.

According to Knight, “He has some old claiming horses that took forever to warm up and put them on this machine for 15 minutes before taking them to the track. He says the difference in these horses was like night and day. They were already warmed up after standing on the plate.”

One of the immediate effects is improved blood circulation due to the rapid involuntary contraction and relaxation of muscles.

Knight pointed out that 5 to 10 minutes of vibration can help prepare a horse for athletic activity without using up energy through the activity and excitement of a conventional warm-up exercise.

Equine Athletes Need Increased Bone Strength

Training and conditioning is done gradually to prepare horses for stresses of athletic work. In most cases where horses suffer bone failure, there is a predisposing pathology; stress has already weakened the bone in a cumulative process.

“A trainer walks a fine line,” noted Casner. “You have to stress the horse enough to build more bone, but not so much that it damages the bone. Shin buck, for instance, is a reaction to excessive stress.”

Exercise and stress helps the bone remodel, but at first the bones start to weaken.

According to Casner, “About 12 years ago, Texas A&M did studies on what happens when we put horses in training. Bone density measurements showed that horses start to lose bone from the very first day we start breaking them—putting weight on their backs and adding stress. They lose bone for the first 65 days and by then are at the lowest bone density they will ever have. After that, it starts to reverse, and it takes another 65 days for the bone to return to the density it had at the beginning of training. So there’s more than four months before the horse gets back to even, and during that time, he is vulnerable to injury.”

Casner feels many people are rushing the training process.

“They start breezing a horse in 60 to 90 days. The horse may shin buck or get a saucer fracture because the bone has not yet had a chance to strengthen. In our program at WinStar, we feel the best-case scenario is to try to get a horse to the races in about a year from the time we start breaking him. We plan to start putting these horses on the vibration plate in April of their yearling year, before we start breaking them in August, to start adapting their bones,” said Casner.

One trial showed that vibrations slow down the bone-weakening process and stimulate the bone-building process.

Casner explained, “This offers a lot of promise for young horses being prepared for training, and also for use in conjunction with training—to help the horse stay ahead of the pathology due to stress. Vibration therapy can help horses remodel bone much more rapidly and effectively, to stay ahead of the damage.”

Easy to Use

“The machine has separate controls for the vibrators for front and back feet,” said Knight. “A stall is probably the most practical location for the plate, but it can be placed on any flat surface that allows enough room for the horse and handler to stand, away from horse traffic or other activities.”

At the track, it can be placed next to a wall, with just a couple posts and a piece of plywood on the outside to make a small chute. A horse can be led up on it while someone stands there holding the horse for 10 to 20 minutes.

According to Knight, “Once horses get used to standing on it, they like it. I start them out with very low vibration frequency and gradually move it up. They seem to enjoy it because it relaxes them.”

Research in humans has indicated an increase in levels of certain hormones after vibration therapy and a feeling of well-being.

The company who made Knight’s prototype, VibePlate, now makes plates for horses, and Knight has become their distributor.

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