Sacroiliac injury/disease?

Caramac71

Caramac71

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Has anyone had a horse with a sacroiliac problem that didn't show up on bone scan? If so, how did you get diagnosis and were you able to treat successfully?

Brief history - vet suspected SI disease last year but no improvement from nerve block. Bone scan completely normal for hind legs and SI, but revealed arthritic changes to facet joints in thoracic spine. Tildren, shockwave, physio, rehab - horse back in work but still unhappy in canter. Chiro now diagnosed right hind lameness and referred back to vet. Chiro suspects the right hind lameness is an underlying problem and the back issues we found, and treated, were compensatory.

We are back at the vets tomorrow but I just wanted to prepare myself with how much of a diagnosis we are likely to get (or not) as she was fully investigated last July. This could, of course, be something new but as the canter symptoms never completely went away we have to consider it being associated.
 
Mine had soft tissue damage to the SI following an accident, it was not picked up initially or when he went in for further investigations, no bone scan done as there was another minor injury that was treated, 12 months after the accident he was still lame on the right hind, by then he had been in full work for some time under veterinary advice, I gave him some time off while I considered my options and my new vet came out to see him, by then it was obvious that he had uneven muscles in the area so he went straight in for injections and scans, it took months to get him level, but now 18 months on he looks fine although currently having a break.

His scans showed no obvious bony damage from what could be seen, the damage was between the bones where one lies over the other, described as the filling pulled out of place and the ligaments being unable to hold it together properly or put it right without the injections to settle things down as by then it was chronic due to being left untreated then him worked while wrong compounding the damage.

It was in canter that it really showed, he couldn't canter apart from in a straight line out hacking, on the lunge he went disunited constantly, ridden he panicked and bucked if you asked but the trot was fine apart from the fact he was unlevel and no one listened to me asking why he was still not right, hence the change of vet.
 
My WB was diagnosed officially and I got LOU for him with chronic sacro illiac dysfunction back in 2012. He went to Sue Dyson's lameness clinic at Newmarket and it took a week to diagnose. He had no 'hot spots' on the bone scan, but with a chronic condition you wouldn't necessarily find any especially in the region where the problem started. His was diagnosed via nerve blocking, Sue is reknowned for her expertise in this field.
Mu horse is now sound, after treatment and rehab via a physio and then treatment by holistic vet and osteopath Donna Blinman at Higham, who mobilised his sacrum. He was then turned away for over a year and a lot of inhand straightness work ensued. My horse is a complicated case because he suffered abuse both ridden and via handling before I got him and this has affected him deeply mentally.
My original diagnosis believe it or not was via an animal communicator who was spot on before he went to Newmarket. An iridologist also confirmed the same R/h upper hind injury before Sue D.
I don't know where you are in the country but my insurers paid for the Donna Blinman treatment/stay under the 'alternative treatment' allowance. The communicator was only £40, but obviously to get my LOU payout I had to go the official vet diagnosis.

Just to add mine had low level gastric ulcers due to stress/pain. Has yours been scoped? Reluctance to canter right is also a sign of ulcers. Bunny hopping is said to signify SI problems. My horse showed few signs ridden and only bucked violently when asked for R/h bend in the end.
 
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Similar to the above, from what I've learned right hind lameness can often be attributed to ulcers or hind gut issues (learning a fair bit as my horse has sacroiliac injury, stifle injury, ulcers, allergy and muscle disease!...makes me feel like a terrible owner!)
 
KatPT said:
Similar to the above, from what I've learned right hind lameness can often be attributed to ulcers or hind gut issues (learning a fair bit as my horse has sacroiliac injury, stifle injury, ulcers, allergy and muscle disease!...makes me feel like a terrible owner!)
Click to expand...

Of course you are not a terrible owner. I am sure many of those problems are symptomatic of an original one. This is where a holistic vet is brilliant because they trace back to the original cause to ensure that is treated whereas often vets will treat the immediate symptoms.
Donna gave me herbs to supplement my boy with to hep with ligament repair and a 6 week regime after ulcer treatment with omeprazole to reinstate the hindgut bacteria
 
Hi
Could I ask what symtoms your horse has in canter?

I have a mare with very similar issues
Inability too bend and really just can't canter, mild right hind lameness and what I can only describe as skipping on forelegs

This was looked into Feb 2015 she had lameness work up, bone scan, nerve blocks steroid treatment, x rays time off, osteopath, four shoes on none of which showed anything although the nerve block too s I joint made her worse

She also had her ovaries scanned all was fine there

Vets adamant not stomach ulcers so didn't scope her

All agree probably underlying right hind lameness causes back issues but all agreed after a year of vet test mare was very stressed at the vets so we stopped at this point
 
Thanks for all the replies - very helpful.

Last year she had gastroscope and ovaries scanned while we were ruling everything out. We discussed hind gut ulcers, but vet felt very unlikely as she had no other symptoms and her gastroscope had been perfect. We had also previously fed low sugar low starch diet and equishure for a month with no improvement. And we did a regumate trial too, to rule out anything hormonal. She lives out and has ad lib hay so really isn't s likely candidate although I know anything is possible.

I'm very interested in the holistic vet, I'm in Kent so something to consider after we've seen our vet tomorrow. We don't have alternative therapies cover on our insurance so would probably have to self fund.

She canters ok on the lunge but it's ridden canter, especially right rein that is the problem. We have a great saddler who noted a few weeks ago that she's throwing my daughter to the left all the time. She finds it difficult to bend on the right rein whereas previously it was her better rein. Left rein is now much improved.

Hopefully our vet will be able to piece it all together.
 
Lisa2manyponies said:
Hi
Could I ask what symtoms your horse has in canter?

I have a mare with very similar issues
Inability too bend and really just can't canter, mild right hind lameness and what I can only describe as skipping on forelegs

This was looked into Feb 2015 she had lameness work up, bone scan, nerve blocks steroid treatment, x rays time off, osteopath, four shoes on none of which showed anything although the nerve block too s I joint made her worse

She also had her ovaries scanned all was fine there

Vets adamant not stomach ulcers so didn't scope her

All agree probably underlying right hind lameness causes back issues but all agreed after a year of vet test mare was very stressed at the vets so we stopped at this point
Click to expand...

This was my post last year when we first started investigating

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...Kicking-out-in-canter&p=12906095#post12906095

From there on, the more she was cantered, the worse she got. Eventually she wouldn't canter at all, then wouldn't trot, then wouldn't go forward at all.

After treatment, she now will canter on both reins but kicks out on tight turns on right rein, has no bend on either rein and is still crooked (quarters in) turning her head to outside, worse on right rein. She just doesn't look happy, she's tense, ears back, tail swishes in the corners. Nowhere near as bad as she used to be and I know I overanalyse now, but she's just not comfortable.
 
I think I bang on about my horse too often but it might help someone. Here's how our story went: intermittent bilateral lameness and explosiveness plus weak canter diagnosed via bone scan as sacroiliac last Feb. Medicated. Perfect pony. Went nuts in May last year rearing broncing freaking out (thought he had brain tumour but ruled out with scan, now believe it was terrible pollen allergy) he was pretty much unridable. Towards the end of the summer I was riding him but he had his ears pinned back flat every time I asked for trot or canter and he'd either jam on the brakes or give a terrible stiff shuffley effort whilst looking miserable. Biopsy and bloods showed mild chronic muscle disease (RER) but not enough to cause it. He was fat and gloriously shiny, no girthiness or obvious ulcer symptoms but he did yawn a fair bit and grind his teeth when on the yard, so luckily vet and I had him scoped. Sure enough glandular ulcers found Nov. Treated through Nov and Dec and I had my happy perky cheerful little horse to ride again. But still very stuffy, unable to canter, always bent to left and inverted, very short striding before. Had stifle medicated. Vitamin e deficient despite loads of supplement so I decided to try adding equishure for hind gut acidosis issues (even though still fat, shiny, no girthy issues or loose droppings) and within days he was tracking up, offering canter when loose or on lunge. Vitamin e levels improving. Then had Rob Jackson the horseback vet out who said horse was stuck in extension in his lumbar/sacral region. Manipulated him and the next few days I saw massive improvements again. Really lifting through his back and floating along.

Sadly for me, just as he was about to start canter under saddle again he has gone lame 🙁 And the allergy issue is raising its ugly head again with dull eyes, tight drawn back nostrils and head flicking. I have no doubt it I don't crack the allergy problem and get him comfortable this summer I will end up with ulcers again by Autumn. It's a nasty vicious cycle.

My point being one thing can easily trigger another so I wouldn't rule ulcers out in a healthy seeming horse if all other scans are done and they are still lame and pissed off. My horse looked a million dollars through all this.
 
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