"Crowded vetebrae" and ISLD or injections?

[BritishEquestrian]

Hi

I have a horse who was recently diagnosed to have some vertebrae which are fairly close together, although not touching in x-rays so not quite kissing spines from what we can see. Said horse is going to go off for a bone scan & further investigation.

Having done some research I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with ISLD (Ligament snip) and could tell me more about the rehab process etc?

But equally I would like to consider alternative treatments such as injections, shockwave therapy etc instead of surgery, because we hope to have caught it relatively early on, whether this would be as effective?

Many thanks

 

[ponios]

Not sure if your horse is currently in discomfort or what you use him for but...

While trying to find the source of pain in one of my horses we did x-rays of back and found the same as what you describe above, turns out this wasn't what was causing the problem but now that we know of this problem and have found it early we were recommended by vet/physio/osteopath to keep him in constant work (once we got him sound again) and work him properly on the flat i.e encourage him to use his back properly

 

[wkiwi]

Some vets recommend specific exercises/work patterns to help kissing spines rather than surgery. Success depends entirely on the individual horse's case but as yours is just close it would sound promising?
I think there is a review or research paper by a vet in europe who is having almost equal success rate as surgery but sorry memory is fuzzy on name/country but You should be able to find more info on it via 'google scholar'.