540 
INJURIES TO THE ANTERIOR SURFACE OF THE KNEE. 
attempted, though it is seldom successful. In quiet animals a dressing 
may be applied, but it is useless in fidgety patients, which can only be 
given a roomy stall or box, with plenty of bedding, and allowed to lie 
down, thus preventing laminitis of the other foot. Complete rest is 
always the first indication in treating fractures of the carpal bones. 
Compound fractures call for the strictest antiseptic precautions ; though 
as a rule the animal has eventually to be slaughtered. 
II.—INJURIES TO THE ANTERIOR SURFACE OF 
THE KNEE. 
In consequence of the anatomical and physiological peculiarities of the 
knee, its anterior surface is much exposed to injury by bruising, especially 
in horses and ruminants. In horses, injury results from falling on hard, 
uneven ground ; in cattle, from the continual pressure of the body-weight 
when lying on hard surfaces, and from the manner in which the animal 
lies down and rises. Such peculiarities explain the varying character of 
the injury in different species of animals. 
(1.) INJURIES TO THE KNEE IN THE HORSE. 
When horses fall during movement, they almost always strike the 
knee, and sometimes produce bruises, i.e., injuries not involving a skin 
wound, but consisting in rupture of blood-vessels in the subcutis, easily 
recognised by their fluctuating character. Lacerated wounds are more 
common, and vary in gravity according to their extent. Defective forma¬ 
tion, senile degeneration of muscular tissue, &c., render animals uncertain 
on their fore limbs, and, therefore, inclined to fall; in such case both knees 
are often injured. The commonest injury is superficial bruising of the 
skin. When animals are going fast and only fall for a moment, excoria¬ 
tions and loss of hair may occur, but are of little consequence unless the 
skin is perforated. Serious abrasions, however, require rest and careful 
treatment, in spite of which thickening and hairless spots often result. 
Repeated bruising often produces hygroma of the knee, or “ capped 
knee ” (see fig. 197), an indolent, diffuse, uniformly fluctuating swelling, 
extending over the whole anterior surface of the joint. In time the walls 
of the swelling become hard and thickened. The contained fluid often 
shows fibrinous clots or myriads of rice-like bodies. Occasionally the 
swelling becomes inflamed and the contents purulent. 
Swelling of the soft tissues in front of the knee at once interferes with 
movement. If the knee is then forcibly flexed, as for example by the 
animal falling, the cutis and subcutis, infiltrated with inflammatory pro¬ 
ducts, may easily be ruptured and a horizontal wound produced, which 
heals very badly. 
