Hallmarq Installs Standing Equine MRI System at Equine Performax Veterinary and Rehabilitation Therapy Services located at The Jaeckle Centre

Equine Rehabilitation Facility to Utilize MRIs in Therapy Progression 

ACTON, Mass. (July 1, 2014) – For years, veterinarians have used MRIs to aid in diagnostics, 
but the veterinarians at Equine Performax located at The Jaeckle Centre in Thompsons Station, 
Tennessee, are taking it a step further. With the recent installation of Hallmarq Veterinary 
Imaging’s standing equine MRI system, the veterinary team at Equine Performax is hoping to 
utilize MRIs in therapy progression.

Located 30 minutes south of Nashville, Equine Performax is a veterinary, rehabilitation and 
therapeutic facility that provides innovative physical therapy treatment to performance horses. 
Offering a wide-range of therapeutic modalities, including an underwater treadmill system, an 
ECB cold-water spa, laser treatment and therapeutic ultrasound, Equine Performax boosts some 
of the most advanced equine therapy options in the country. Now with Hallmarq Veterinary 
Imaging’s standing equine MRI, they hope to not only utilize the scanner in diagnostics, but also 
monitor the progress of horses as they recover.

“MRIs are an important tool in the diagnosis of lameness,” says Mark Wooten, DVM, Director 
of Equine Performax Veterinary and Rehabilitation Therapy Services at The Jaeckle Centre. “We 
know the benefit of utilizing MRIs, but we receive a lot of resistance from owners when it comes 
to putting their horses under anesthesia, which we have to do when we use a down MRI.” 
He adds, “We chose to work with Hallmarq because their standing MRI doesn’t require 
anesthesia. Since most of our cases are lower limb, a standing MRI made sense to use. We can 
get the diagnostics we need without the risk of a down MRI.”

The Hallmarq standing equine MRI system allows horses to stand for scans of the foot and lower 
leg instead of undergoing general anesthesia for the same scans. The horse is simply lightly sedated and walked into the machine.

And, because the system eliminates the need for general anesthesia, which can lead to problems including death in some healthy horses, it is safer than 
the other MRI options.

“Nearly 80 percent of the cases we get here are lower limb, so full anesthesia is rarely necessary 
and something we’d prefer to avoid if possible. Our doctors and radiologists are comfortable 
with the standing method, and it gives us the ability to conduct repeat evaluations and provide 
customized treatment plans throughout the rehab process,” says Wooten.

He continues that one of the primary purposes of having Hallmarq’s standing equine MRI  machine is to provide the veterinarians and therapists on staff the information they need to 
provide the best treatment protocol for the horse.

“By being able to easily scan a horse’s leg, we can use the images to help guide our therapeutic 
recommendations for horses throughout the rehabilitation process for tendon, ligament and bone 
injuries. Thus, a horse coming into Equine Performax may initially be given one mode of 
treatment and switched to a different one as further MRI scans reveal the degree of recovery 
being attained,” says Wooten.