Equine hamstring injury

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doodle

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I was told the actual muscle but it went straight out of my head again.

However has anyone dealt with a hamstring injury? Horse initially misdiagnosed so we are a month on. Thankfully the treatment would have been the same anyway. Horse is very comfy and we are optimistic but any experiences from others?
 
BBP had a pony with an 80% rupture above the hock caused by another horse, and he's fine now. I don't know if that's helpful at all?
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We are fairly sure he has been messing around and has skidded his back legs under him and sat down. He also had a small wound on his heel which would make sense.
 
Physio will be your friend there as soon as the inflammation is down and the vet says its ok. The muscles down the back of the leg can contract post injury and that's when you end up with pressure on areas like the hock. A good physio should be able to help with any scar tissue and give you exercises to make sure the muscle in gently stretched out. They also got the TENS machine set up for me which I found really helpful (when I could get the flipping pads to stay in place). About 6 months afterwards I had a newly qualified vet physio out and she had a PEMF machine which we popped on her and had a very sleepy, happy horse.

Mine also skidded in the field in the mud. PSSM didn't help matters and I suspect the vets would have box rested if I hadn't pointed out that would have been the end of her muscles full stop - but she was practically retired anyway so I just carried on with her out as normal.

I still do the stretches (2ish years) and can tell if I've missed them for a while because her right hind looks wooden. I wouldn't be surprised if she did more than a hamstring actually because the whole of her rump was tight and sore but it was a challenge to tell what was injured vs what was her PSSM playing up. She has also got a suspensory injury on the opposite hind so she's not a great case study for saying that it fixed really - she's generally broken and being a pampered pet!!

But physio was key to actually mobilising that leg properly.
 
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It was the physio who discovered it. Of course she cannot diagnose but it is pretty obvious now. Vet had written him off as arthritis. I am.currently waiting for referral vet to come to diagnose. He is in very light work (walking for 20mins or so) as he was making his own fun in the field and is sound.

I will be working closely with physio as she is utterly amazing and I do anyway. She thinks it will take around 3 months but of course that's not a certain. Currently using ice blue to gently massage twice a day. She said we need to keep using the muscle gently to allow it to heal as well as possible.
 
stangs said:
@SEL can I ask what stretches you do on her?
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I only do these after she's walked in hand - never cold - but she has PSSM too so I need to make sure her muscles are warmed up before stretches.

Hind leg stretch back. There's a few ways to do this but with her I rest the back leg on my thigh (like my farrier does) and gently stretch away from her. 3 x on each leg.

Hind leg forward stretch. Almost as if you're doing a flexion test but then gently ask them to bring the leg forward & down. Once it's forward & down see if they'll leave it there & hold the stretch. Tom Beech wanted me to do across the body with her but she can't manage that.

I also massage her hamstrings, especially if I get resistance to the stretches. Backing up too. Ste finds that hard so I do it whenever there's a gate to open or I reverse her out of places instead of turning round. It was the right hamstring that was injured and she hated the tail pulls when it happened.

The TENS machine was interesting. The physio set it up and I thought she'd hate it but despite the muscles twitching she fell asleep. I should really get some batteries and use it for maintenance
 
SEL said:
I only do these after she's walked in hand - never cold - but she has PSSM too so I need to make sure her muscles are warmed up before stretches.

Hind leg stretch back. There's a few ways to do this but with her I rest the back leg on my thigh (like my farrier does) and gently stretch away from her. 3 x on each leg.

Hind leg forward stretch. Almost as if you're doing a flexion test but then gently ask them to bring the leg forward & down. Once it's forward & down see if they'll leave it there & hold the stretch. Tom Beech wanted me to do across the body with her but she can't manage that.

I also massage her hamstrings, especially if I get resistance to the stretches. Backing up too. Ste finds that hard so I do it whenever there's a gate to open or I reverse her out of places instead of turning round. It was the right hamstring that was injured and she hated the tail pulls when it happened.

The TENS machine was interesting. The physio set it up and I thought she'd hate it but despite the muscles twitching she fell asleep. I should really get some batteries and use it for maintenance
Click to expand...
About 15 years ago me and my friend bought the same TENS machine as we both had back issues. We used to compete with each other to see who could have it on the strongest and stand the highest shock, she would always win!

Guess it's no surprise she ended up being a vet physio. 🤣 She uses one on the horses she treats as well as pulsed mag therapy (PEMF) which is really good for that type of injury, Bailey had it for her hamstring injury.
 
SEL said:
I only do these after she's walked in hand - never cold - but she has PSSM too so I need to make sure her muscles are warmed up before stretches.

Hind leg stretch back. There's a few ways to do this but with her I rest the back leg on my thigh (like my farrier does) and gently stretch away from her. 3 x on each leg.

Hind leg forward stretch. Almost as if you're doing a flexion test but then gently ask them to bring the leg forward & down. Once it's forward & down see if they'll leave it there & hold the stretch. Tom Beech wanted me to do across the body with her but she can't manage that.

I also massage her hamstrings, especially if I get resistance to the stretches. Backing up too. Ste finds that hard so I do it whenever there's a gate to open or I reverse her out of places instead of turning round. It was the right hamstring that was injured and she hated the tail pulls when it happened.

The TENS machine was interesting. The physio set it up and I thought she'd hate it but despite the muscles twitching she fell asleep. I should really get some batteries and use it for maintenance
Click to expand...
Thank you!

Across the body as in trying to point the hind towards the diagonal fore?
 
He doesn't have pssm.

We also did those described stretches anyway although I stopped when he was injured and thought it was hock. I started again before physio came but only once and I will wait for the vet to diagnose first. Also now massaging twice per day.
 
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