Muscular pain causing lameness?

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seabiscuit

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I know that vets always say that muscular pain in a horse's body is always a direct result of a lameness issue in say a horse's hocks or feet. But it is possible for muscle pain to be so severe that it can actually make a horse lame?? Has anyone ever experienced this? Did treatment of the muscles (i.e H-wave, and ultrasound, physio /chiro etc ) make the horse sound again- or did it always end up to be a result of a lameness issue?
 
well, i pulled a muscle in my calf about a month ago and it was agonising enough to make me limp really badly if i tried to do more than walk slowly... running was out of the question, i'd have been dead lame.
i know it's not a horse but it proved to me just how unbelievably painful a muscle injury can be...
 
yeah - just think of pain in the back muscles causing lameness, or across the hindquarters, and then treatment of the area solves the lameness....
 
But that's a leg muscle, what I kind of meant was muscular pain in the hindquarters/back/neck....

Stupid question really when you think about it- I just wondered because the vets are always so absolutely adamant that a sore back and /or hindquarters are a direct result of something going on in the legs.
 
I agree with kerilli - i run on roads regularly and often pull a muscle and i physically cant walk - im hopping around for a few days so i definately think alot of the time lameness can be just muscle strain. If it happens to us it must happen to them too.
 
Yep, one of ours went lame due to a pulled hamstring - it was obvious it wasn't skeletal or in the leg due to the way he was moving (very uneven and like he was wearing a nappy!) Physio treatment with laser and tens did the trick.

I never understand vets who will only attrubute a sore back etc to leg issues - of all people you would expect them to realise horses, like humans can tweak muscles and become temporarily 'lame' Even farriers recognise this!!
 
Joe went lame on his off hind in April. The vet was sure it was hind limb related but blocks of lower limb and hock made no improvement. Still convinced the hock or hind suspensories were the problem he scanned and xrayed but these found no problems. He then blocked stifle and sacroliliac and still there was no improvement. He was then put on total box rest and an improvement was found after 4 weeks and after another 5 he was totally sound. We have brought him back into work very slowly and carefully and so far he is totally sound. The vet is now sure the problem was a deep muscle injury high up. He had no treatment, just total rest.
 
Hi O_B,
I definately think muscle pain can be a cause in and of itself of lameness. Around Easter time my mare was slightly unlevel on the left rein on a circle when starting work. I got the physio out and she was very sore and tight along her back, neck and up to her poll. I could even see and feel the tightness myself (and obviously felt very guilty!). With another treatment she was back to her normal bouncy self. As Kerilli says - a pulled muscle etc can be very painful and can cause human lameness but it doesn't mean we have arthritis or some other joint/structural problem.
 
Um, sure.
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Ever pulled something in your back? Go to a horse show and look at all the old pros hobbling about first thing.
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I think it's all much more holistic than this causing that. Sure, imbalances and other issues in the mechanism will cause pain elsewhere, because the whole system goes out of whack. But I really don't think you can say it only ever goes one way. I do think it's "easier" to diagnose leg problems and top line pain can be a good early indicator of more subtle conditions, which starts the search and shows up a problem. But then, you wonder how many horses get investigated for back pain until something, somewhere more obvious - and easily diagnosed and treated - turns up when in fact they were living with that condition well enough before.

I do think that's also part of it - problems are cumulative. So a horse could be coping okay with say, a foot issue, but the resulting tension makes it more susceptible to injuring itself in other ways, say straining a top line muscle. So is the problem the foot or the strain? Curing either will bring about improvement which may or may not result in a functionally sound horse again.

Anyway, I though we'd all decided back pain was always caused by ill fitting saddles now.
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Sorry, not helping. In answer to your question, yes, I think a horse can be functionally unsound for reasons that aren't necessarily to do with its legs.
 
Come to think about it remember i had pulled my muscles in my back/neck few months ago, my arms were affected. The oestopath said that there is alot of musles/ligaments attaches from back to limb. so I guess so if it were for horses (is it W?)
 
definitely a horse can be lame for reasons other than legs/feet.

Pilfer actually suffers from a frozen shoulder type injury, which if left will affect his pastern and his hoove balance.

if his back is regularly looked at and treated his feet are fine so vice versa to what your vet believes.
 
Having torn a muscle in my back some years ago I can categorically say yes it does! Excruciating - and I couldn't walk unless dosed up on anti-inflammatories and painkillers. I would not imagine it is any different for a horse.
 
I had an event horse who regularly went unlevel (lame-ish) behind, due to a muscle soreness in the sacroliliac area. Treatment from physio always sorted it, it was just a maintenance issue. May have been caused by an underlying weakness in the limb, but this was never a problem in itself...
 
Sienna had an issue for years with a trapped nerve in her wither area. Had her treated by chiro every 6 months, or if she seemed to be suffering. It was caused by a fall when trod on her OR boot taking off - why I never use them any more!!
I think the vet's view is that muscular problems, misalignment etc are caused BY something. & are generally a symptom, usually of lower limb probs. In that I think they are correct, although they are also quite likely to have pulled muscles etc arseing about which could also cause lameness.
 
Muscular pain CAN be caused as a direct result of a lameness issue in the horses hocks or feet, true, but not always. I am not a vet, but I would argue with any vet who says that it's always the case.

Muscular pain can be caused by badly fitting saddle, incorrect use of gadgets, bad riding, overwork/overtiredness/overexertion or simply by accident, to name just a few.

Yes, muscle pain can be severe enough to make a horse lame, and yes, listen to your vet's advice (as long as he/she is open minded enough to accept that it may NOT be linked to a foot/hock issue) but DO also have your horse seen to by a good and reputable therapist - be it massage, physio, chiro, Bowen, McTimoney etc., etc., because each of these has its place in helping to relieve the effects of muscle damage, whatever the cause.
 
Can only speak from experience. My boy "felt" ever so slightly lame in walk (no other paces and trotted up sound) so I was dreading having the vet up to tell me some ghastly news. So before I got the vet I asked the chiro to come up. She did a full treatment on him and he went sound as a pound. Also felt much looser in the back. Now, whether the original "lamesness" was caused by a foot/leg problem I don't know but she certainly made a huge difference to him.
 
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