Sacroiliac injection/recovery

xRobyn

xRobyn

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Just wondering if anyone has experience with this and can hopefully make me feel a little better! And sorry for the length of the post :o

My horse went lame at the start of November, originally had some time off and he improved but was still lame (near hind leg - hip dropping, snatching it up and not pushing through from behind with it). He was taken for investigations in December, showed no improvement in any nerve block up to his SI joint. On blocking that joint there was 50% improvement (down to 2/10ths lame) but the vet told me it could because something else is going on or that the nerve block didn't penetrate the entire joint.

He had a steroid injection into the joint on christmas eve. He's got 6 weeks of paddock rest (currently on week 4) and has had maybe two 'hooley' moments, aside from that he's been nice and calm. The vets have said if there is sufficient improvement then he will have another 6 weeks off before being bought back into work. If there isn't enough improvement then it's looking likely he'll have a bone scan to see what's going on.

Watching him recently he's using the leg far better (although he doesn't really relax it when I pick it up without some encouragement) but he looks like he's still dropping his hip.

How long was it before you started to see improvement and was there a definite clear moment between lame and sound? I'm hoping he recovers ok and will ask the vet if I can get a physio and chiro to check him over after this 6 weeks (and before (if) he has a bone scan) but I was just wondering how others have responded to the treatment etc.

Big thank you in advance :)
 
My friends horse suffered sarcoliac damage last year, my understanding is that is difficult to diagnose so it may be a differnt injury to your horse so please read bearing this in mind.

The horse damaged herself in the field, it was very non-specific but she was effectively trailing her off-side hind leg in canter and was unable to jump with her usual exuberence. A lameness workup was non-specific and by a process of elimination they ended up with a diagnosis. She has had extensive physio and tensing (s?), her work was gradually increased from walking on the flat in straight lines for 20 minutes to now being able to canter, this has taken four months. What really showed when she cantered was not that she was no longer trailing her leg but the size of the hind movement that had simply been lost as a result of the injury. She jumped for the first time last weekend, rather enthusisically it has to be said but she did jump and appears to have stayed ok.

In a couple of weeks it is hoped that the physio will give her the all clear and she can go back to competing.
 
Thank you for that Scoutie. Mine is similar, not sure on the cause of the lameness, he felt fine in walk and canter but was stuffy in trot, trotted him up and he was quite obviously lame but there was some difficulty in figuring out which leg it was. After a few days rest the lameness was less obviously but somehow it made knowing what leg it was easier. The original vet visit included a flexion, he showed some worsening but was pretty constant in the lameness on a circle and on the flat. Before he went to the vets I lunged him and he was worse on one rein (I can't remember which) but as I say it does seem to have improved since then, he's definitely using it more.

The vet is down to assess another horse today so I might ask if it is ok to start walking him as he's bored on paddock rest and I think it might help to start strengthen it.

Thank you for the reply :)
 
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