Equine musculoskeletal injuries, or other causes of reduced movement, can have a poor prognosis partially due to the secondary complications that may develop during recovery or rehabilitation. These can include supporting limb laminitis due to excessive weightbearing on healthy limbs and also problems associated with ventilation or perfusion due to prolonged recumbency. The risk of these complications is reported to increase with increasing body weight. While many methods have been attempted to reduce load and prevent complications, there is no current standard practice when managing horses with ambulatory difficulties. One critical consideration with load reduction devices is maintaining sufficient mobility to allow for blood flow and the prevention of muscle wasting. One of the most challenging obstacles with any weight reduction method or device is preventing pressure sores/ulcers or other tissue trauma because load is redistributed away from the limbs and onto regions of the body unaccustomed to weightbearing. Reported methods to aid in recovery and rehabilitation include rescue slings, forced recumbency, flotation tanks, water treadmills and aquatic therapy. While these methods have been successful in some horses, significant complications have also been reported. If too much weight is removed, muscle wasting or osteopenia occurs; conversely, if insufficient weight is lifted blood flow is hindered. The optimal load reduction is not known because each individual horse will have different requirements depending on the severity of the injury. The goal would be to restore normal weight distribution on the noninjured limbs, while supporting the weight that would normally be placed on the injured limb.

中文翻译：

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减轻体重及其对门诊马匹康复的可能影响

马的肌肉骨骼损伤或其他运动减少的原因，预后很差，部分原因是在恢复或康复过程中可能发生继发性并发症。这些可能包括由于健康的四肢过度负重而引起的四肢椎管炎，以及由于长期卧卧而导致的通气或灌注相关的问题。据报道，这些并发症的风险会随着体重的增加而增加。尽管已经尝试了许多方法来减轻负荷并防止并发症，但是在管理具有行走困难的马匹时，目前没有标准的做法。减负装置的一项关键考虑是保持足够的活动性，以允许血液流动并防止肌肉浪费。对于任何减轻体重的方法或设备而言，最具挑战性的障碍之一就是要防止压疮/溃疡或其他组织创伤，因为负荷会从四肢重新分配到身体不习惯负重的部位。据报道，有助于恢复和康复的方法包括救援吊索，强制卧卧，浮选水箱，跑步机和水生疗法。尽管这些方法在某些马匹中很成功，但也有严重并发症的报道。如果去除过多的重量，则会导致肌肉消瘦或骨质减少；相反，如果举起的体重不足，则会阻碍血液流动。未知最佳减负，因为每匹马根据受伤的严重程度会有不同的要求。