Scientifically based equine medicine or paramedical healing promises?

Physical Therapy in Equine Veterinary Medicine: Useful or Useless?

Physical therapy should not be considered as a ‘cure all’; this premise, along with those attributed to other alternative therapies, is merely an unfortunate client misconception. Physical therapists who wish to work in veterinary medicine in the U.K., and many other countries including Canada (but not yet in the U.S.), must have completed a recognized training protocol. The therapists are requ...

Personalized Medicine: Promises and Pitfalls

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describes personalized medicine as “the right patient with the right drug at the right dose at the right time,” and it certainly is a timely and emerging medical practice. Personalized Medicine: Promises and Pitfalls, by Gloria Gronowicz, begins with a unique perspective: the author’s own personal anecdote about the very day she was diagnosed with stage...

Ethics and Equine Medicine: Curse, Pipedream, or Opportunity?

Equine veterinarians exercise special knowledge and skill. The use of this special knowledge is governed by society, through laws, as a service to the public. Generally, those governing are not veterinarians. Ethics is a moral endeavor, and even though practical applications of ethics may not always be black and white, a strong code of professional ethics, practiced both individually and organi...

The promises and pitfalls of evidence-based medicine.

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) aims to address the persistent problem of clinical practice variation with the help of various tools, including standardized practice guidelines. While advocates welcome the stronger scientific foundation of such guidelines, critics fear that they will lead to "cookbook medicine." Studies show, however, that few guidelines lead to consistent changes in provider beh...

Equine Internal Medicine