UTC

We are proud to present our UTC (Ultrasound Tissue Characterisation) device, a new type of ultrasound that will lead to a breakthrough in the management of tendon injuries AND the prevention of these troublesome injuries. Including our machine, only two UTC devices are available in Belgium.

The UTC device allows us to differentiate objectively between different types of tendon fibres through a three-dimensional image and the according colour codes: full-strength intact bundles (green), discontinuous, wavy bundles (blue), unorganised fibrous tissue (red) and completely torn fibres (black).

This device, available in our new orthopedics centre, will be a major aid in improving the rehabilitation process of your horse. Because the capacity of this device to determine tendon strength is much higher than in classic ultrasound, we can make a well-founded estimation of what load the tendon can endure.

On one hand, we can avoid that horses are put back into work too early leading to a re-injury (and the associated elongation of the rehabilation period with several weeks or months). On the other hand, we avoid an unnecessary long period of box confinement or walking.

Apart from the time you will save during rehabilitation, a UTC-guided rehabilitation will also help us to ensure that enough workload is provided. A certain workload is necessary to obtain a repaired, elastic, strong tendon. In short, the device enables us to make or adjust an individual rehabilitation schedule for your horse, leading to a quicker and better tendon repair!

Another truly revolutionary quality about the UTC system is that it is able to detect tendon overstrain before a true lesion (with “irreparable” damage, visible on classic ultrasound) or any symptoms are present. A regular screening of your sport horse enables us to predict and therefore also prevent many tendon injuries (and the associated months of rehabilitation). When such overstrain is detected, a simple period of decreased training (e.g. a few weeks flat work for a show jumping horse) will prevent further injury without loss of stamina. This way of prevention is already applied in elite athletes in some European football clubs!

Would you like to rehabilitate your horse in a well-grounded way with the aid of this revolutionary device or would you like to have a regular follow-up of your sport horse to prevent (re-)injuries? Don’t hesitate to contact our office for more information.