340 BLTREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



DISEASES OF MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 



This term expresses a more or less complete laceration or yielding 

 of the fibers of the muscles, tendons, or the sheaths surrounding and 

 supporting them. The usual cause of a sprain is external violence, 

 such as a fall or a powerful exertion of strength, with following s^'uip- 

 toms of soreness, heat, swelling, and a suspension of function. Their 

 termination varies from simple resolution to suppuration, and com- 

 monly fibrinous exudation difiicult to remove. None of tlie muscles 

 or tendons of the body are exempt from liability to this lesion, though 

 naturally from their uses and the exposure of their situation the 

 extremities are more liable than other regions to l)ecome their seat. 

 The nature of the prognosis will be determined b}' a consideration of 

 the seat of the injury and the complications likely to arise. 



Treatment. — The treatment will resolve itself into the routine of 

 local applications, including warm fomentations, stimulating lini- 

 ments, counter irrita.tion by blistering, and in some cases even firing. 

 Rest, in the stable or in a box stall, y>'ill be of advantage bv promoting 

 the absorption of whatever fibrinous exudation may have formed, or 

 absorption may be stimulated by the careful and persevering applica- 

 tion of iodine in the form of ointments of various degrees of strength. 



There are many conditions in which not only the muscular and ten- 

 dinous structures proper are affected by a strain, but, by contiguity of 

 parts, the periosteum of neighboring bones may become involved, with 

 a complication of periostitis and its sequehe. 



LAMENESS OF THE SIIOULDEK. 



The frequency of the occurrence of lameness in the shoulder from 

 sprains entitles it to precedence of mention in the present category. 

 For, though so well covered with its muscular envelope, it is often the 

 seat of injuries which, from the complex structure of the region, 

 become difficult to diagnosticate with satisfactor}' precision and facility. 

 The flat bone which forms the skeleton of that region is articulated in 

 a comparatively loose manner with the bone of the arm, but the joint 

 is, notwithstanding, rather solid, and is powerf ulh' strengthened by 

 tendons passing outside, inside, and in front of it. Still, shoulder 

 lameness or sprain may exist, originating in lacerations of the muscles, 

 the tendons or the ligaments of the joint, or perhaps in diseases of the 

 bones themselves. "Slip of the shoulder-' is a phrase frequently 

 applied to such lesions. 



The identification of the particular structures involved in these 

 lesions is of much importance, in view of its bearing upon the question 

 of prognosis. For example, while a simple superficial injury of the 

 spinatus muscles, or of the muscles by which the leg is attached to the 



