bad back - options include shock wave or injections any experience on here?

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UKa

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As title says, my horse has a bad back. Scans showed up nothing so we are sure she has no kissing spine or anything like that. She has been managed ok with acupressure regularly but recently has fallen backwards a bit, so she was put on bute by the vet followed by very light lunge work every other day. 2 months later she is now better but not great and back man suggested she will ever only be able to do part time, light work.

I am intending so slowly start working her again more doing lots of lunge work as well as some riding and see how she goes but vet also said that the above treatments may be an option if she doesn't get well enough. Has anyone had either done on the back and any experience, thoughts?

Horse is no longer insured for the back issue so will have to pay myself... may be deciding factor in decision making.

Thanks
 
Hi,she has very damaged soft tissue over the saddle area meaning she gets very sore very regularly difficult to explain.kissing spine has been ruled out.appears to be from some old injury before I had her.
 
Damage to supraspinous ligament? Or soreness from, say, a badly fitting saddle?

Mine had a bit of the former last year which has cleared up with the right sort of work. Vet put him on Equitop Myoplast to support muscle building and he had regular physio (my physio is amazing and she is the one who picked up the problem in the first place). Personally I would stop the accupressure, I would get a proper equine physio out and go from there. My horse had to do a month of just lunging (in a Kavalkade) and long reining, loads of transitions to get him using his back end properly and making sure he was stretching over his back. Also lots of stretches on the ground and some in hand work. After a month the physio said he was 90% better so he did another couple of weeks of lunging along with ridden work, but the ridden work was always in an outline, even out hacking. She's been back since and is pleased as the problem has cleared up completely. I think the combination of working him in the right way and physio was the key for him. Vet did mention shockwave if it didn't clear up with work, but changing how he worked was what was needed.

My vote goes for you getting a proper equine physio, not a "back man" or doing accupressure. A good physio will give you a correct work regime.
 
Thank you this is a very interesting reply, chestnut cob. I think I may give the physio a call that was recommended by my vet and see what she may have to say. Thank you.
 
One of mine was treated for sacroiliac problems. Her back twitches all over though, not just in the SI area.
She had the joint medicated, a year of physio, along with some laser treatment and 3 sessions of shockwave treatment. To be honest, none of it made a noticeable difference. The only thing that worked for her was sending her to a rehab yard to use an aqua treadmill.
Her back problems showed up as bi-lateral hindlimb lameness - this disappeared after the rehab.
I am having a chiropractor out for a second treatment of one of my others tomorrow & am amazed at how different he is to the physio dolly had. Not saying one is better than the other, but maybe a chiro can pick up on something that a physio has missed? And vice-versa. Good luck with yours :) x
 
After having been on here and hearing all this about the physios I made a quick decision to have one come out as my vet had suggested and she came today and gave me a lot of hope as I was given exercises to do and she thought the case was not nearly as bad as she had expected. Maybe now was a good time as my girl had just had lots of time off followed by the treatment from our regular "back man". But she needs to use her belly muscles more and lift her back up which is something that totally makes sense but we had not addressed so far, just treated the painful muscles from above. Anyhow, I will now try this new route to really build her up see how we get on. Fingers crossed I am so happy I have a project now to work with my horse and I am really hopeful that it may work and much prefer this to going with injections and other interventions. So, big thanks for your thoughts on here, it made me finally pick up the phone :)
 
havent read all replies fully. But it safe to say i have had bad issues with both my horses. Tbh it really depends what you mean by bad back and wht you have already done. One horse i helped re hab had arthritic changes to the facet joints and it took a good 4/6 months of vet treatment phyios and long rein lunge work to get back going again. And my horse fell over and has damaged the lig the attaches the spinal process together she has had something call mesotherapy twice three months off and last three weeks of lunge work about to start riding again this week after last scan showed improvement. Your vet is the best person to answer your questions as it depends on the nature of the damage. A good physio and vet combo is a must and be preperd to do lots of re hab work they are not quick problems to fix
 
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