bad experiences with McTimoney treatments?

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sophiebailey

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Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone here has had a bad experience with McTimoney? Bailey had a treatment done about 1.5 weeks ago (I won a treatment in a raffle at our vets) and his back end has been so stiff ever since. I've left it until now as his stiffness eases off the more exercise he does (a lot of walk and flexing before I can trot etc) but he was not remotley stiff before the treatment.

I am aware there could be other contributing factors to his stiffness (including his age -20) but it just seems too much of a coincidence that this stiffness started after he had the treatment then had 3 days off.

The dressage judge commented he looked stiff + reluctant to bend during todays test, which is now making me panic that something is wrong. So my question is really has this ever happened to anyone else and how did you rectify it?

I'm reluctant to call the practicioner (sp? Sorruy!) Out again as I don't want to pay for her to make it worse :/ any advice? Thanks xx
 
My mare has mctimoney lady out every few months after a bad back from badly fitting saddle, she loves it!
Goes to sleep and grooms me as she's doing it ...never had a problem with her being stiff afterwards at all.
She normally has 2 days off then 2 days light hacking then back to normal.
I would call her and explain your horse is stif and see what she thinks.
 
Have to say I have only ever had good experiences and have noticed improvements in my horse(s) following treatment. I would suggest getting your horse seen again, even if with a different person as it seems odd they would be more stiff afterwards. Did the practicioner say anything at the time about your horse being stiff anywhere? They would normally tell you.
 
I do not use Mc Timoney but a physio, she will always treat, if required, then come back for a follow up about 10 days later often a few tweaks are needed then.
I think the problem you are having is that only half the job was done and she should have said that he needed a follow up check.
 
Thank you, she's due to call me tomorrow/tuesday as a follow up call so I will mention all of this to her. Just to sound very tight, do they charge you if they have to come out again to rectify?

I've only ever had the physio to him and he's always fab after a session with her, this is the first spinal-based treatment he's had done. She also 're-levelled' his pelvis which he's never had done before, but she only did one side which according to other horsey friends is wrong - they should do both sides? I'm wondering if that was too harsh for him?

Thanks for the advice; she didn't pick up on any stiffness in his back end, only in his neck where the physio always picks up stiffness (he's got a weak left shoulder which means he carries himself more through the neck and right shoulder giving him a stiff neck .... have to do lots of exercises with him and stretching!!)

thanks again
 
Did she see him move before she treated him? I had my usual McTimoney lady out week before last and when she saw my mare move she said she seemed short on left hind. Turned out she had an abscess in her foot so no wonder she was short!

Always had good experiences although can see why you're concerned and it may simply be coincidence. I would have rang after a couple of days to express my concern.
 
Hi, yes she had me walk & trot him and said she saw no problems with his movement. For his age Bailey is usually quite supple and free in his trot. She picked up that he was reluctant to bend through the left, but made her aware of his on going problem with the left shoulder which she said would explain it.

She rang last week and I told her he'd become very stiff, she suggested I keep him in light work all week with lots of stretching so that's what we have done, but in our walk and trot test today most of our comments were that he was stiff, mum commented that he looked a bit stiff as we entered too. I made sure he had a really good, slow, gradual warm up so I am getting baffled!

Not sure what to do for the best as if he's not ridden the stiffness gets worse, but don't know if keeping him working is helping? Planning to do a lunge session tomorrow and see if that helps, hopefully she'll ring back and offer more advice!
 
Did the practitioner ask for your vet's permission before she treated your horse? I understand that osteopaths, physiotherapists etc are required under their insurance to do so
 
i'd tell her.
no, i've never had a bad experience, either for myself or any of my horses, and i've used mctimoney for decades, and different practitioners when i lived in diff parts of the country. some have been slightly better than others (current one is FANTASTIC) but none have ever done anything that had negative results.
 
Hi Herts, yes she's part of my veterinary group :) she had been through his history before she came to see me, and I showed her the previous write ups that the physio had done for him


ETA: just thought i'd pop on the end that i'm not in any way slating the McTimoney brand/practitioners, just wondering if the treatment was too harsh for the old man!
 
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I love mcTimoney :) All my guys had it.

However, Toffee was having it regulary however because of how her arthritus was changing (hock spavins) basically she was compensating so much the McTimoney practioner said lets not do this any more. As what Toffee was doing was feeling great for a week but as her arthritus is obviously boney she was compensating by moving muscle (in her case pelvis tilting) and I was told yes she was feeling great for a while but eventually her muscules where going back to how they were, which is a uncomfortable process. Shortly after this I retired her (2 years ago now).

Does that make sense? Sorry its very wordy

Perhaps the arthritus is worse than you thought, and this treatment shown this more evident?
 
Toffee44 said:
I love mcTimoney :) All my guys had it.

However, Toffee was having it regulary however because of how her arthritus was changing (hock spavins) basically she was compensating so much the McTimoney practioner said lets not do this any more. As what Toffee was doing was feeling great for a week but as her arthritus is obviously boney she was compensating by moving muscle (in her case pelvis tilting) and I was told yes she was feeling great for a while but eventually her muscules where going back to how they were, which is a uncomfortable process. Shortly after this I retired her (2 years ago now).

Does that make sense? Sorry its very wordy

Perhaps the arthritus is worse than you thought, and this treatment shown this more evident?
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Oh gosh I'm unaware that he's suffering from arthritis anywhere but now I'm panicking! He's never previously presented any symptoms of arthritis!

his previous owner said when he was 13 yo (he's now 20) he was scanned and shown to have arthritis in one hock (which is also the leg she held to adjust his pelvis come to think of it ......) but he came sound again after 4 weeks and she never had any further problems, and I haven't either until now :(:( feeling very worried now I don't want to have to retire him yet :(
 
I used on several years ago once. The treatments she administered were very harsh for that particular horse. I thought she did not take into account his problems. I asked her out as I thought a treatment may make life more comfortable for him, he did have a lot of problems. Instead the treatment didn't help at all and he was pretty uncomfortable afterwards. Looking back and if I had had more experience at the time I should have stopped her.
 
I'd definitely speak to the McTimoney person again and explain the symptoms. Each horse reacts to the treatment differently but I would think that after 1.5 weeks you should have seen improvements if it is a reaction to the original treatment.

Don't worry about the pelvic adjustment thought - just adjusting one side is perfectly normal.

The McTimoney technique is relatively gentle (I've recently had a few treatments myself) so I wouldn't have thought it would be too harsh for even an oldie. Speak to the practitioner though and get their thoughts - you could also speak to your vets too if you are concerned (in case it is just co-incidence)!

ETA Toffee44 makes a good point, not necessarily arthritis but if the treatment has adjusted something his muscles were compensating for, it could be that the treatment meant that he is now using slightly different muscles than before which could make him stiff.
 
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sophiebailey said:
Oh gosh I'm unaware that he's suffering from arthritis anywhere but now I'm panicking! He's never previously presented any symptoms of arthritis!

his previous owner said when he was 13 yo (he's now 20) he was scanned and shown to have arthritis in one hock (which is also the leg she held to adjust his pelvis come to think of it ......) but he came sound again after 4 weeks and she never had any further problems, and I haven't either until now :(:( feeling very worried now I don't want to have to retire him yet :(
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Sorry for some reason I read that he already he had (damn the crabbies). But as you have mentioned he had arthritus in his hock it could just be he has slightly compensated and just by adjusting him slightly has caused him stiffness.

Give the practioner a ring explain whats going on, also mention the arthritus. My mare is a lot sounder than she was 2 years ago but I darent get back on now, arthritus settles and changes, while it changes they can be lame.
 
I have had a horse go lame after treatment, but he had other issues and had been compensating: try not to panic, he's an older boy and he might have just stretched a bit far in the treatment, or have done something silly in the field/stable. Hope he's better in the next few days :)
 
sophiebailey said:
Hi, yes she had me walk & trot him and said she saw no problems with his movement. For his age Bailey is usually quite supple and free in his trot. She picked up that he was reluctant to bend through the left, but made her aware of his on going problem with the left shoulder which she said would explain it.

She rang last week and I told her he'd become very stiff, she suggested I keep him in light work all week with lots of stretching so that's what we have done, but in our walk and trot test today most of our comments were that he was stiff, mum commented that he looked a bit stiff as we entered too. I made sure he had a really good, slow, gradual warm up so I am getting baffled!

Not sure what to do for the best as if he's not ridden the stiffness gets worse, but don't know if keeping him working is helping? Planning to do a lunge session tomorrow and see if that helps, hopefully she'll ring back and offer more advice!
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I've always found Mctimoney quite a gentle treatment even when there's been a problem. I would certainly ring and explain he's just not been the same since his treatment. I would have thought she's either come back and re-check him or explain why he might be stiff.

Good luck :)
 
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