Back Pain in Horses
Back pain in horses is a very grey subject as there are not many diagnositic tools of use to the vet to detect injuries. In my experience there are 2 types of back pain.
1. Acute onset of back pain due to an injury.
2. Insidious onset of reduced performance.
Often the acute onset of back pain will be pick up by the rider, vet or therapist but the symptoms of poor performance could easily be missed. Observation is the key to seeing a horse with a back problem. Do not confuse back pain with Sacro-Iliac joint problems which I will write about another time.
Back pain can have a huge influence on gait and studies have showed that in over 30% of cases with postive back pain there will also be a secondary lameness aswell, making diagnosis even harder. Things to look out for are:
- Poor development or asymetrical muscle development. This can be observed by standing on a stool and look from behind your horse over its hind quaters and along its back.
- Abnormal promience of the spinous processes of the Lumbar spine, these can either be raised, dipped or shifted sideways.
- An abnormal dip or sunken appearence between the Lumbar and Sacrual Spine, or a raised hump over the sacrual spine.
- Loss of wastage of muscle.
Signs that can be observed by riding or watching the horse in movement are:
- Horses may be come agitated.
- Plaiting of fore limbs at walk.
- Saddle may slip of when you are riding you might feel lop-sided or sitting crooked.
- The horse will not want to turn in small circles.
- Lateral movement either ridden or on a lead will be difficult.
Imaging modalities that are avaliable to vets are Ultrasound; this can be used to scan the facet joints in the spine to see if there are restrictions or degeneration. X-rays can be taken of the Spinous process of the Thoracic (wither region) and the Lumbar spine providing the vet has a machine that can penetrate that area. Nuclear Scintigraph can be used in conjunction with x-rays and Ultrasound and can be very helpful. Thermography is another useful to tool to locate areas of inflammation in the spine. Spinal anaylsis can be done by placing dots on the spinous processes and trying to flex the horse each way to observe a restriction.
Treatment depends on the severity of the injury or degeneration. Regular chiropractic treatment can aleviate or control back pain as to can other therapies such as Bowen, massage, laser, homeopathy, EMRT etc.. Certain herbs such as Devils claw and willow bark may suit some horses. And it would deffinitley be of benefit to consult a trained professional in the above mentioned feilds. There are some vets who can inject into the facet joints with good results and other forms of pharmaceuticals such as pentasan have had positive results in controlling back pain.
Different training techniques can have a hugely positive effect on back pain as to with correct saddle fitting. Back pain in horses is more apparent than any rider/owner/trainer realises and is a subject that constantly needs to be researched.
If you feel that your horse has a back problem then it is better to act now than to leave a horse to suffer in silence as so many do.