Physio gone wrong?

[pistolpete]

Long story short, my horse have terrible problems at the moment. Being investigated and treated for neurological symptoms. I can't help keep thinking the only trauma I know he has experienced was his physio under sedation. He nearly fell over in the stable. Anyone else had a problem after physio? He was only having it as a top up treatment after being diagnosed with navicular that is the least of his problems now.

 

[AmyMay]

What was done to the horse whilst under sedation?

 

[Birker2020]

Long story short, my horse have terrible problems at the moment. Being investigated and treated for neurological symptoms. I can't help keep thinking the only trauma I know he has experienced was his physio under sedation. He nearly fell over in the stable. Anyone else had a problem after physio? He was only having it as a top up treatment after being diagnosed with navicular that is the least of his problems now.

I only know this because my mate is a physio and has explained to me about how overcompensation issues occur, and I am sure you will be no stranger to this idea AmyMay.

When you injure yourself you place more weight on the unaffected limb. Horses obviously do this too. Then a physio comes along and makes everything alright with the injured part, or at least contributes to making everything alright. Then the horse is able to place more weight on the damaged side because it feels better, but in doing so the side that has had more weight on it due to the overcompensation still hurts and may be more noticeable.

It might be that you called your physio out because you suspected your horse may have hurt itself by taking a tumble??? Maybe this had caused problems to the vetebrae which in turn press on the spinal cord and nerves and cause hindlimb weakness. I know you say it was a top up to navicular issues, so the horse has presumably been overcompensating in other areas to take the weight off his forehand. Maybe in doing this he had raised his head causing stiffness which turn had caused a problem in his neck which could explain the neuro problems you are encountering now.

The physio releases the pressure caused by 'knotted' tissue therefore relieving pressure on the ligaments and muscles which has a knock on effect in realigining the skeleton. Maybe in doing this, it could have released an impingement in the spine which pressed on the nerves causing the staggering you saw in your horse whilst being treated (I am only guessing).

All this explanation is very layman like as I am obviously not a vet or a physio and only write from my own personal experiences.

So in thinking your physio has caused damage, it is my impression (I may be wrong) that sometimes the horse will need a period to re adjust after treatment and sometimes may look worse before looking better.

A physio has to undertake many years training, and knows by name every muscle, ligament and bone in the horses body, what they all do, how they are all connected to each other and knock on effects each may have on the other. Maybe a friendly non confrontation phone call to your physio would result in a better answer than you may receive from me or indeed anyone else on this forum?

Good luck x

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

I have had a horse manipulated under sedation and I would never have it done again. In hindsight I don't believe the person had a clue about what he was doing and I think he did more damage than good. The horse is so much more malleable due to being doped that I honestly think you can do a huge amount of damage to them.

If we have a physio treatment, we will only do as much as we can without it really hurting.

If a horse is manipulated under sedation and has way too much done to it and can't complain because its so sleepy, its understandable if he doesn't feel quite right afterwards!!!