Tag Archives: acupuncture

Identify and Treat Equine Sacroiliac Problems

By Elaine Pascoe With Kevin K. Haussler, DVM, DC, PhD – See more at: http://practicalhorsemanmag.com/article/identify-and-treat-equine-sacroiliac-problems-11803#sthash.Omnty5wB.dpuf

 

Your horse gallops, jumps, collects, turns and extends his stride with power from his hindquarters. And his sacroiliac (SI) joint?the ?meeting place of his pelvis and spine?is critical at every stride. It transfers the action of his hind legs to his back, translating the push into forward motion.

Given the forces that this joint handles day in and day out, it’s not unusual for horses to develop SI pain. The trick is recognizing the problem: SI injuries are notoriously hard to pin down, with subtle and confusing signs, easily mistaken for other physical or even behavioral problems. Even a “hunter’s bump,” a raised area at the top of the croup that’s often thought to reveal SI trouble, isn’t a reliable sign.

How can you tell if your horse develops SI pain? And, more to the point, what can you do to help him if he does? For this article, we asked Kevin Haussler, DVM, DC, PhD, of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University, for help in answering those questions. Who’s at Risk? Any horse can injure his SI joint in a fall or some other accident. The injury may leave the joint less stable than it was originally, so it can become a source of chronic pain. Performance horses may develop SI problems through simple wear and tear?and the more mechanical stress the joint comes under, the greater the risk, Dr. Haussler says. SI problems are fairly common. In one recent survey, these problems accounted for more than half of 124 horses presented for back problems at the University of Minnesota equine clinic. Show jumping and dressage seem to be especially hard on the joint, according to a study carried out by Sue Dyson, FRCVS, and others at the Center for Equine Studies, Animal Health Trust, Newmarket, United Kingdom. That study analyzed records of 74 horses seen for SI pain at the center. Dressage horses and show jumpers accounted for almost 60 percent of the group. Slightly more than half were warmbloods, suggesting that breed may play a role. And horses with SI pain tended to be taller and heavier than average, another sign that mechanical stress is an important factor. Under stress, Dr. Haussler says, the joint can be injured in several ways. The SI ligaments can tear, just as ligaments and tendons in a limb can give way under stress. And the joint itself, like the hock or any other joint, can become inflamed. Over time, osteoarthritis develops?cartilage wears away and bone remodels. Thoroughbred racehorses sometimes get pelvic stress fractures directly over the SI joint, and those need to be differentiated from SI joint arthritis.

What You’ll See SI problems are hard to spot. The joint has almost no range of motion and is buried under layers of muscle and fat, so you can’t really see or feel it. And signs of SI pain are often frustratingly vague. Your first hint of trouble may be a change in your horse’s performance or attitude?he’s not working at his usual level or seems unwilling to work. He lacks impulsion behind, and his quality of movement isn’t what it was. Your farrier may tell you that your horse is difficult to shoe behind. You may see other signs as well. Some may show up when your horse works on a longe line or in-hand. But ?often signs are worse when your horse is ridden or is asked to canter, because these demands call for more hind-limb ?impulsion and put more stress on the SI. Sometimes the signs are apparent only when your horse is ridden, and sometimes they are felt only from the saddle. Horses with SI problems may not look lame, even to a skilled observer, but they often feel worse to a rider.

Besides lack of impulsion and reduced quality of movement, you may notice that your horse

 

    • is reluctant to move forward.

 

    • holds his back rigid.

 

    • tends to throw his rider upward and forward.

 

    • is reluctant to work on the bit.

 

    • has trouble with lateral work, such as shoulder-in and half-pass.

 

    • is stiff and crooked at the canter.

 

    • changes his leading hind leg (swaps off behind) at the canter.

 

    • has trouble with flying lead changes.

 

    • bucks and kicks out.

 

  • refuses jumps.

Working your horse in-hand (on a firm surface), you may also see that he travels with a wide-based gait behind and has trouble with foot placement on circles. A “hunter’s bump” just indicates a prominent bony crest?the tuber sacrale underneath the muscles at the top of the croup. Prominence on one or both sides may be normal for a particular horse, Dr. Haussler says, but if your horse has pain, muscle spasms and joint stiffness in the SI or pelvic region, then the bump is likely to be significant. It may signal subluxation a partial displacement of the tuber sacrale.

Asymmetrical muscling in the hindquarters is another red flag?or, perhaps, a red herring. Unfortunately, most signs of SI pain can be produced by other conditions. In fact, SI pain often appears along with other musculoskeletal problems. In Dr. Dyson’s study, 25 percent of the horses also had lameness in a front or hind limb, and another 25 percent had arthritis or other problems somewhere in their spines. The problems are often related, but it can be hard to know what came first. Did a lower-leg lameness cause your horse to change his way of going in a way that stressed his SI? Or did SI pain cause him to alter his gaits in a way that overloaded a limb and caused the lameness? Solving the puzzle is a challenge for your veterinarian. Determining the Problem Your horse’s performance history and a clinical examination are the starting points for the diagnosis, Dr. Haussler says. Your veterinarian will watch your horse in motion and perform a hands-on exam, checking for asymmetries and for pain in response to manual pressure. Only the top parts of the dorsal (upper) SI ligaments can be felt directly, and signs of pain and swelling here suggest ligament damage. The joint itself and the ventral ligaments are too deep to check this way, but rectal palpation of the SI region may also produce a pain response. The SI joint can also be blocked with an injection of local anesthesia (in the same way that nerve or joint blocks are done in the limbs). This test can confirm that the SI region is the source of your horse’s discomfort, but it doesn’t tell ?exactly what’s going on. The joint’s deep location makes it difficult to image, but several techniques can help zero in on the nature of the problem:

    • A bone scan (nuclear scintigraphy) can reveal osteoarthritis. Your horse is ?injected with a radioactive substance that accumulates in areas of active bone remodeling, and a gamma camera tracks the substance as it moves through his body.

 

    • Ultrasound scans can detect damage to ligaments. Transrectal ultrasound (the technique used for equine pregnancy checks) may reveal irregular SI joint margins?a sign of arthritis?as well as damage to the ventral (lower) SI ligament.

 

    • Ultrasound or radiographs can help identify a displaced tuber sacrale.

 
Even with these tools, it’s sometimes hard to figure out the exact nature of an SI problem. But knowing the cause of your horse’s pain will increase the odds of ?successful treatment and make a relapse less likely.

Customize His Treatment
Treatment should be customized to the individual case, Dr. Haussler says. Medication, reduced exercise, physical therapy and alternative therapies may all play a role in the program. Here are three key components:

 

    • Reduce inflammation. This is the first step in treating SI pain. Your veterinarian may prescribe a course of oral phenylbutazone (bute) or another nonsteroidal anti-?inflammatory drug. If arthritis or ligament damage is diagnosed, local injections of corticosteroids can help reduce pain and inflammation. The injections are similar to those used in other inflamed joints, such as the hock.

 

    • Reduce exercise. Limited exercise helps by strengthening the muscles that surround the joint?but too much work will aggravate the injury. Your veterinarian can help determine how much and what type of exercise is best for your horse. The program might call for light work in-hand, on the longe line or in a round pen for several weeks. If your horse is comfortable with that, you might start light riding at the walk and then at the trot. Increase work slowly, ?watching carefully for signs that your horse is uncomfortable or ?unwilling.

 

  • Allow turnout. Stall rest isn’t recommended for most SI injuries. In most cases, turnout in a small paddock with good footing is helpful. Avoid deep mud, large rocks, poor footing and steep hills, which may aggravate SI problems.

Arthritis in the SI joint can lead to chronic, low-grade pain. In this case, careful management will help keep your horse comfortable.

 

    • Use a progressive (gradually increasing) exercise program to strengthen and supple his hindquarters. Tailor the length, frequency and intensity of the work to suit your horse, Dr. Haussler says, backing off if your horse seems unwilling or if other trouble signs return.

 

    • Use cross-training techniques?for example, alternate flatwork, hacks in the field and cavalletti work to avoid constant or repetitive stress on the joint.

 

    • Avoid activities that are especially hard on the SI region: jumping, galloping, abrupt transitions, tight turns and circles.

 

  • Turn out your horse as much as possible. Moving around at liberty will help him maintain flexibility, reducing joint stiffness.

Several alternative therapies may help keep your horse on the road to recovery:

 

    • Acupuncture may be useful for pain control in the SI region.

 

    • Therapeutic exercises can help restore impulsion and coordination in the hind limbs. Hind-limb stretching exercises that draw the leg forward (protraction) and backward (retraction) may help relax spastic muscles or contracted connective tissue and restore joint mobility.

 

    • Chiropractic or osteopathic techniques may be helpful in chronic cases to restore normal, pain-free joint mobility.

 

    • Massage may help relax muscle tightness in the croup or upper hind limbs.

 
The outlook for horses with SI injuries depends on the severity and duration of the problem, Dr. Haussler says. A horse with a mild injury should recover and has a good chance of returning to full work. Horses with more severe cases of osteoarthritis or ligament damage may return to a low level of exercise, but their outlook for returning to high performance isn’t so good. As a rule, a horse who responds well to treatment has a better chance of full recovery than one who does not.

Immediate Pain Relief

Cold laser treatments provide pets with relief from painful symptoms of a variety of medical conditions and diseases. These treatments are non-invasive and painless. Recovery time is greatly reduced.

Both laser therapy and acupuncture are based on traditional Chinese medicine’s concept of chi, or energy. Ancient theories about how chi moves through the body mirror modern medicine’s understanding of how the nervous system functions in the body. Both acupuncture and laser therapy pinpoint specific spots along the body’s chi (or nervous system) where there are blockages, which obstruct the flow of energy or information throughout the body. Blockages hinder the body’s ability to function at an optimal level and heal at an accelerated rate.

Both acupuncture and laser therapy have been shown to increase circulation throughout the body, reducing inflammation, relieving pain, and accelerating healing. These therapies offer pain management and treatment for conditions like immune-related disorders, skin conditions, arthritis, and reproductive disorders.

Low level laser therapy is being successfully used treat pain or stiffness associated with arthritis and other degenerative joint conditions, acute injuries, and post-operative recovery for surgical patients. It has been found to be an excellent, well-tolerated alternative to drugs. This type of laser treatment is different from surgical lasers that cut. This wavelength of light penetrates the skin without cutting or burning it. It stimulates the cells and blood vessels that lie just beneath the skin. It does this without causing any harm to the tissues.

The laser’s contact with injured or diseased tissue promotes the production of ATP, a substance essential to cellular reproduction and repair. This enhances the body’s natural healing abilities. Laser therapy strengthens injured tissues, which makes them less vulnerable to re-injury during the recovery process. It also reduces internal scarring, another potential source of pain and stiffness. Painkilling drugs can only mask the symptoms — they don’t treat the underlying issues.

 

th

Acupuncture for Animals

A key component of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture can be traced back more than 5,000 years. Acupuncture aims to treat a range of conditions by targeting specific points in the body. It does so through the application of heat, pressure, or laser, with the most widely recognized method being penetration of the skin by thin needles.

Traditional Eastern and contemporary Western medicines differ on their theories of why acupuncture works. Eastern thought holds that stimulating these acupoints corrects the imbalances of qi, or circulating life force, through channels known as meridians. Western physicians largely dismiss such concepts,  but they do believe that acupuncture stimulates the nervous system, and can effectively treat musculoskeletal pain, postoperative pain, and nausea.

In veterinary history, acupuncture charts for horses date around 136 AD. Today, the science has been accepted for more than 30 years as a viable treatment for animals of many different species and sizes. It is even covered by some pet insurance companies in Canada, the U.S., and elsewhere.

Most animals actually enjoy acupuncture or cold laser treatment.  When older patients are suffering from arthritis, cold laser or acupuncture can be the best choice, since medications are often not tolerated well. In that case, acupuncture is a perfect fit to help manage their chronic pain. I use cold laser, or low level light therapy, in much the same way that acupuncture is used. The advantage is that there is no need to penetrate the skin with the needle.

www.reuters.com

 

Natural Approaches to Arthritis

Lameness is a common symptom of arthritis in older animals. Many veterinarians prescribe corticosteroids, or other potentially toxic medications, but there are more natural and safe options. Conventional therapies treat pain and inflammation, but rarely help the stiff and swollen joint to heal .

Each animal is an individual and a dedicated owner may have to try several treatment options before the magic cocktail is found.  The goal is not just to suppress symptoms, but to actually heal the body in a holistic way.

I have discussed acupuncture, cold laser therapy, massage,Transfer Factor (wonderful for the inflammation of arthritis) and other homeopathic and herbal remedies on this blog. Many natural remedies can relieve pain and supply nutrients to help cartilage heal.

Arthritis results from erosion of the cartilage lining of the joints. Since there are no nerves in this cartilage, a great amount of damage can occur before the surrounding joint tissues become inflamed and painful. So once again, prevention is the key. The earlier diagnosis is made, the greater the chance for healing.

Glucosamine, chondroitin, hyaluronic acid, enzymes, fatty acids, can all help heal cartilage.

th

 

Pain Reduction With a Powerful Beam of Light

What if you could easily trigger the body’s natural painkiller: endorphins? This can now be done with cold, or soft, lasers.

The beams are thought to work in the same way as acupuncture needles by stimulating the release of endorphins. They are pumped out by the brain during times of pain and stress.

Researchers at Dundee University’s Institute of Motion Analysis and Research (in the UK) recruited 49 patients with osteoarthritis and split them into two groups.The study showed a large reduction of pain (greater than when using medication) in patients treated with cold laser therapy. No reduction of pain was experienced by patients in a placebo group.

Six months later, pain scores had dropped even further, enough to make a huge difference to their daily lives. In a report on their findings the researchers conclude: “Short-term application of low-level laser therapy, in association with exercise, is effective in reducing pain and improving quality of life.”

Other studies have found lasers may help to promote tissue repair in damaged knees. And low energy lasers have also been found to help in the treatment of depression. A study last year at the University of Sydney found aiming laser beams at the back and neck boosted mood in patients for up to three months at a time.

Low Level Laser

Back Pain in Riders

Low back pain is probably the most common complaint in the United States. Studies suggest that 4 out of 5 people will suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. Riding, with the frequency of falls, the position, the jarring motion, only hikes up that statistic.

Many people with back pain have been told it is due to a slipped, or herniated disk. Surprisingly however, most back pain is caused by weak muscles, asymmetry, poor posture, and being overweight. Stress and tension can also contribute to back pain.

Rolfing, also known as myofascial release, can change posture and eliminate pain.

In Chinese medicine back pain is believed to be caused by a block in the bladder meridian. Acupressure, reflexology, shiatsu,and acupuncture can be very effective for curing pain. Yoga has many postures (like side plank) that can strengthen postural muscles. Swimming is good exercise, as it supports body weight while strengthening important core muscles.

Cold laser can reduce or eliminate pain, improve circulation, and reduce inflammation.

Some Massage History

Massage is believed to have originated in China around 2700 B.C. Massage was used to cure sickness, promote health, and balance the body. Chinese and other Eastern physicians were only paid if their patients remained healthy.

Acupressure and trigger point therapy preceded acupuncture by at least a thousand years. Acupuncture was not developed because it was believed to be superior to acupressure. People in power were to be touched as little as possible, so physicians devised a method where needles were used in place of hands and fingers.

Treatment of animals first appears in writings around 720 B.C. Horses, chickens, camels, and pigs are shown in early illustrations.

How Acupuncture Works

Acupuncture works by stimulating a point on the body for therapeutic effect. There are 361 acupoints on the body of a horse or human. The points lie along pathways of major nerves. Acupuncture stimulates blood supply, relieves pain, and relaxes muscles. It can be used to treat nearly every disease or condition. Cold lasers can be used with similar results at all the same points without puncturing the skin.

Acupuncture for Your Animals

I have been studying acupuncture, and loved this thought from one of my textbooks:

“The master acupuncturist does not limit himself to treating only one part of the animal’s body, or specialize in certain diseases. The veterinary acupuncturist is concerned with the body as a whole and the influence of one part of it on other parts. They think that the American veterinarians are foolish to compartmentalize their practice. They believe that a veterinarian who limits his medical practice to any specialty may miss the correct diagnosis and is likely to prescribe treatment that might temporarily relieve symptoms in one area while damaging other areas and the whole body. The goal is to restore the balance of body energy and to improve the animals general health as well as relieve the pain or lameness of the animal.”

H. Grady Young, D.V.M

Acupuncture or Cold Laser ?

Acupuncture has been used for thousands of years. Cold laser is relatively new. Which should you choose? Laser therapy is completely painless, risk free, and sterile since the skin is not broken. Make sure you choose a cold laser that has the power to be effective. Cheap knock-offs, hardly more powerful than a flashlight, have naturally shown up in various marketplaces.

Laser therapy and acupuncture are completely distinct and separate entities. Each has its own highest and best use. Both can be highly effective but are very different. Often, it may be an excellent strategy to combine both.

Acupuncture is more point specific. Acupuncture works when a practitioner inserts fine needles at key points along the body that connect to organs and affect virtually all body functions. In contrast, when laser light contacts tissue, it disperses over a wide area. Acupuncture needles may serve to redirect energy, but they don’t add to it. On the other hand, laser therapy is perhaps a gentler, more supportive stimulus which adds energy to the system.

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...