Medicating SI Joint

[dressage_diva]

After recently starting rearing under saddle (some of you may remember my post), we eventually ascertained that my WB had a very slight lameness in his left hind (only visible lunging on hard surface) and a bone scan at the end of last week found the cause of the pain to be his SI joint. He had both the left and right side of the SI joint medicated last Thursday and has been on box rest for 2 days and is now having 2 weeks chilling in the field, before we begin 4 weeks of walker/lunging to build up his strength before we try riding him again. I'm speaking to my vet tomorrow to discuss incorporating sports massage/chiropractic treatment as well.

Does anyone have any experience of medicating the SI joint? Did your horse return to his usual level of work afterwards? I'm aware we don't entirely know whether the SI joint dysfunction is an acute/chronic issue and whether it is something he will need medicating long term, or if it just needs time to settle down.

Would be very interested to hear your stories and experiences. Horse was competing elementary and schooling medium before hand and was bought with the aims of going up the grades to PSG eventually (there is no rush as I'm only an amateur and currently pregnant with my first child so not riding anyways!).

 

[be positive]

Mine had his SI injected but the post injection treatment was very different, mine was under physio care almost immediately and he was restarted within days of the injections with in hand work and hacking only, no circles, no lunging and no walker, not that I have a walker to use but it would have been off limits. I did only hacking for ages, probably at least 8 weeks, combined with in hand work over poles, plus a daily routine of stretching exercises targeted at helping the injury, I cannot remember exactly how long it was before I started circle work but I did start a little careful lunging after the 8 weeks hacking, mine came sound and back to "normal" but due to other reasons is not currently in work, need to get going with him again soon, I just need motivating!!

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

The racehorses have 2 days on the Walker then a quiet week of walking and trotting before restarting on the gallops. It has made a huge difference to some.horses - from being unraceable to winning decent races at a good level.

The biggest problem for SI injections in racing, which won't affect you, is that there is 60 days withdrawal period from competition.

 

[dressage_diva]

Thanks both. Interesting that the conditioning work you do after the injection is different to what the vet hospital prescribed. I haven't spoken to my own vet yet (only the vets at the hospital that did the scan) but interested to see whether she agrees with a period of rest before we get started. The horse in question has been out of work since June (but has been living out) whilst we pinpointed the issue (we originally suspected hocks or kissing spines and he had both xrayed and his back injected after X-rays showed mild KS), but bone scan suggests KS is insignificant to SI pain (and his lameness was analyses using gait analysis and correlates with SI pain. So perhaps we are taking a more cautious approach to bringing him back into work - though will definitely clarify if it is ok for us to start circle work so soon.

 

[Cowpony]

Mine has had SI injections twice, about 18 months apart. No idea if it's a chronic problem or whether she injured herself in the field the second time. She's not above a mad gallop when she feels like it.....She had 2 weeks box rest, 2 weeks walking in straight lines, two weeks trotting ditto, then gradually introduced circles and canter work. She's lost a lot of fitness even though she's been turned out after the first two weeks. We did our first dressage this week, Prelim and Novice, and we were certainly rusty! A lot more work needed before the next one.

 

[Dizzydancer]

As I'm currently going through it and there seems to be a rather common link between SI and suspensory ligament damage Altho I'm not sure if that would have shown on bone scan as its soft tissue?!

 

[dressage_diva]

As I'm currently going through it and there seems to be a rather common link between SI and suspensory ligament damage Altho I'm not sure if that would have shown on bone scan as its soft tissue?!

Hi DD, we wondered if my boy had suspensories damage but I was told that this would have shown up on the bone scan (where ligaments meet bone). His suspensories were clear on the bone scan.