Physio, Chiro or Osteo?

[1alex1moose]

Hi all,
I have a horse with some back pain and I know I need to get someone out to look at him but not sure which route to go down. I have used many different types of treatment in the past and I'm not sure which worked the best so thought I'd see what you guys recommended. To be honest the best results I've seen were from a guy who was a bit of a quack - hammers etc! - but he really seemed to make an amazing difference to my horse.
Thoughts please! Thanks.

 

[sally2008]

Firstly I would check to make sure that your horses feet are correctly balanced as this can be the cause of back pain - does it stand like a goat on a rock for instance as this would indicate imbalance? Assuming everything is as it should be, I would always use a chiro so that they can deal with any skeletal misalignment. Physio will treat muscle tension but if the pain is coming from skeletal / joint issues then they will only be treating the symptoms and not the cause.

 

[alsiola]

Your horse has a medical problem - there is only one type of practitioner qualified to diagnose what the problem is and recommend treatment. Care to take a guess?

 

[K27]

Hi all,
I have a horse with some back pain and I know I need to get someone out to look at him but not sure which route to go down. I have used many different types of treatment in the past and I'm not sure which worked the best so thought I'd see what you guys recommended. To be honest the best results I've seen were from a guy who was a bit of a quack - hammers etc! - but he really seemed to make an amazing difference to my horse.
Thoughts please! Thanks.

It's always my choice to use veterinary physio-in conjunction with Vet first.

Agree with Sally2008- back probs/soreness can be secondary to something else going on i.e foot balance, hock/limb probs, saddle etc so although physio or chiro/osteo etc can treat the symptoms, it will not treat the cause.

Hope you get it sorted!

 

[potty_4_piebalds]

I would get the vet as this seems to not be the first time this horse has had this problem, x rays/scans will show what the problem is and then the vet will advise you of the best treatment. In my opinion physio, chiro and osteo are a waste of time and money without seeing an x ray/scan to see what the issue is.

 

[skint1]

I agree with Alsiola, it is very important to involve your vet but also a cautionary word....

My daughter's mare had a lot of behavioural and performance issues which I won't bore you with and the vet saw her a lot and some of those visits included looking at her back, checking for pain, looking at her move, trying Regumate and all sorts

Two things they never picked up on which we had pointed out to us by other horse professionals were 1. very poor foot angles 2. a rotated/dropped pelvis and a misaligned (?)shoulder girdle area (I don't have the report with me and cant recall exact details).

It took me a while to get the vet to recommend her for proper remedial farriery, I had to change farriers and he handled it from there (they now use him for all their remedial work-he's a total star ) and he also recommended an excellent osteo to help with her other issues, we ran it past the vet and then got him to come out

She's still a tempestous madame and not always easy but the difference in her way of going and general attitude is absolutely amazing.