When something hurts, we (or our horse or dog) instinctively try to keep the area as still as possible. We move the rest of the body around that still point. When the pain is severe, we immobilize almost everything. This response to pain can become habitual because it works: pain is minimized. Mobile, flexible bodies become closed and stiff.
Healing deeply ingrained and restricting habits can be achieved with chiropractic, acupuncture, cold laser, and myofascial release. Massage therapy complements chiropractic treatments by allowing muscles to relax. When you get muscles staying in the right area, then bones will stay in their right place.
Myofascial Release is one of the best ways to
improve your horse’s comfort and performance. Myofascial release techniques will loosen restricted tissue to allow your horse’s body to work at it’s highest potential. Myofascial release, along with Stress and Trigger Point Therapy, is the best way to correct structural problems in your horse.
Fascia isn’t only found around muscles and bones, it’s connected to the brain, all other organs, glands, too. Restrictions in the fascia are in a hardened state causing circulation issues. So the muscles aren’t necessarily in a contracted state, but more of a distressed state and can’t relax or contract properly. Myofascial release allows for the rehydration and flexibility to return to the fascia and then whatever it was ‘glued to’ — a muscle, bone, nerve, blood vessel, gland, and/or organ — will have improved circulation and function optimally.
Correct massage will help move the bone by addressing the actual problem: the soft tissue (muscle, tendon, ligament). The bone is a slave to the muscle. It can only move if the muscle tells it to move.
And, it can only be where the muscle allows it to be.
If you move the bone, but the horse’s muscle is still tight, the muscle will pull the bone back “out of place”. Did you ever wonder why chiropractors schedule so often in the beginning stages of therapy? It is because the muscle (which still has a problem) will continue to pull on the bone. By moving the bone often enough, you will hopefully change the muscle – eventually.
