PSOAS MUSCLE DAMAGE

[Piglet]

As above really, equine osteo came out to look at my horse (he has been lame on and off for the last 6 months) and he diagnosed major and minor damage to the poss muscle. I now have him back in work and building him slowly, I was wondering whether a magnetic/heat pad would help him? I don't really want to fork out the expense of one of it not going to assist. Any ideas would be appreciated please

 

[Equi]

Magnetic no, I don’t believe it does anything. Heat may help but at the same time would struggle to reach the target area.

If you can get a physio that does winback greatment i found it massively helpful in my boys lameness recovery (suspected muscle injury, vet never could figure out what)

 

[ycbm]

It's so deep in the body and inside the pelvis that I don't see how a heat pad would do anything.

 

[Piglet]

Magnetic no, I don’t believe it does anything. Heat may help but at the same time would struggle to reach the target area.

If you can get a physio that does winback greatment i found it massively helpful in my boys lameness recovery (suspected muscle injury, vet never could figure out what)

Yup vet couldn’t diagnose either, the osteo seems to have helped tremendously, I was just wondering if there was anything else I could do to help as the saddler noticed that he was slightly raised behind the saddle which she thought could have been the bruising coming out (she has fitted my saddle for several years so knows him well).

 

[Orangina]

I would recommend Indiba for this area

 

[sbloom]

Raised behind the saddle is related, it's a compensation for the psoas not working properly, with the horse seeking to control the pelvis using movement muscles instead of postural ones. You may want to consider a saddle that frees up this area which may mean looking at forward balance saddles ie one that loads you forwards (well off where the psoas attaches to the spine, deep below the saddle at T16-17), in neutral pelvis, and over your feet. This is a high bar for rider fit but it's the only way to truly help the horse. Big rear gussets, saddles that are fractionally too long, tipping back, rider sat too far back by design or accident, all of these can affect the psoas.

As with all things this is my current best understanding, but not something discussed much by anyone.

 

[Piglet]

I would recommend Indiba for this area

 

[Piglet]

Raised behind the saddle is related, it's a compensation for the psoas not working properly, with the horse seeking to control the pelvis using movement muscles instead of postural ones. You may want to consider a saddle that frees up this area which may mean looking at forward balance saddles ie one that loads you forwards (well off where the psoas attaches to the spine, deep below the saddle at T16-17), in neutral pelvis, and over your feet. This is a high bar for rider fit but it's the only way to truly help the horse. Big rear gussets, saddles that are fractionally too long, tipping back, rider sat too far back by design or accident, all of these can affect the psoas.

As with all things this is my current best understanding, but not something discussed much by anyone.

Thank you, interesting reading, I will do my research

 

[sbloom]

I should have said it's sort of saddle related - in your case it's compensation for the injury but commonly is saddle related, where the rider is loading directly onto the psoas. Makes far more sense to me that the usual story about the last rib, kidneys etc.

equitopiacenter.com is a good place to start, Yasmin Stuart Vet Physio, loads of good stuff out there, if you can find my page on FB I share a lot from various rehabbers etc and lots on fitting for the rider for the benefit of the horse.