Sacroiliac injury/strain - stories and pictures needed!

tobiano1984

tobiano1984

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Hi everyone - hoping I might find some help on here...I'm preparing a presentation for my MSc course on the biomechanics of gait abnormalities. I've chosen SI disease, which was silly as there's so little about it! Anyway - I have most of the material in terms of biomechanics/clinical aspects but what I could really do with is any photos or small case studies! e.g. pictures of any imbalances in the pelvis, photos/videos of horses showing abnormal gait related to SI injury (bunnyhopping, lateral walk, tracking narrow behind/plaiting, haunches in or out, asymmetrical tail position). Also any tales of veterinary/therapy intervention and the outcome! Please note, this is for an internal presentation just to a small group of Vet Physios and won't be public or anything. Before and after pics would be great too if you had success with it...

If anyone can help please let me know and we can liaise via PM/email. Thanks! x
 
My TB mare had an SI injury two years ago, caused we think by slipping over on concrete. Vet injected it, she was field rested for two months and brought back into work and is back to normal. I've no photos or videos or anything, I just knew on riding her she wasn't right behind..

Fiona
 
If you PM me your email I will take some pics of my mate and give you some info on her. Short story is she had an injury as a few day old foal o her SI which has left it unlevel however it causes her no problems (poss due to her growing through life with it) and with much surprise to saddle fitters she is actually totally equal on her saddle area and develops equal muscle. She is in full work and can jump 1.20 tracks. She wasn't backed until 6 tho and had plenty of time to grow an led develop on fields which were hilly so I guess that helped with building her up
 
I don't know if it would be any help, but I could video my mare if you like. She is retired now and can no longer stay united in canter as a result of her SI injury. It doesn't seem to bother her a huge amount and she is much better since retirement, but I'd imagine if I pop her on the lunge for a few laps she'll go disunited very quickly.
 
HashRouge said:
I don't know if it would be any help, but I could video my mare if you like. She is retired now and can no longer stay united in canter as a result of her SI injury. It doesn't seem to bother her a huge amount and she is much better since retirement, but I'd imagine if I pop her on the lunge for a few laps she'll go disunited very quickly.
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If it's not too much trouble a short video of disuniting would be very interesting to see!

Thanks everyone, had a few people get in touch via PM - any more please do get in touch too :-)
 
tobiano1984 said:
If it's not too much trouble a short video of disuniting would be very interesting to see!

Thanks everyone, had a few people get in touch via PM - any more please do get in touch too :-)
Click to expand...

It's no trouble at all, I'll bob her on the lunge this weekend and see what happens! She'll think it's great, she hasn't been in the school for ages! Depending on how stiff she is, you may see it affect her in trot too. When she was first diagnosed, the vet could tell as soon as she started trotting on the lunge that it was a sacroiliac problem. However, she has been much better since retirement and living out all the time. She couldn't do the rehab required for a sacroiliac injury for various reasons so the decision was made to retire her given her age and the fact that she is really too small for anyone in the family to ride now.
 
My horse is quite an interesting case. When I bought him he had a 5 stage vetting. He passed with flying colours and the vet said he was on of the nicest horses he had passed in a very long time. His only comment to us was there was slight plaiting behind and he believed this was due to lack of muscalture. The horse was 5 and a 17.1hh Westphalian gelding. I will do my best to look for some photos.
Story went that the horse showed extreme aggression almost immediately I took possession and this got worse with striking rearing biting and kicking on the ground. He was very dangerous to handle. Infact the ridden side which only consisted of long and low slow work was fine to begin with. I got him in Sept 2011 and after he bucked over his ears 4 times with my daughter in Jan 2012 I had him scoped for ulcers.
He had 2 x grade 2 so we knew immediately these had to be symptomatic and not causal.
He was turned out for a month on gastrogard and then my vet referred him to Sue Dyson's lameness clinic at Newmarket.it too her a week of nerve blocking and bone scans to diagnose chronic sacro illiac dysfunction. She reckoned he had had this injury from age 2 probably. I got LOU for him.
I started rehab via a physio immediately. She used a nerve stimulator on him. She took loads of muscle measurements which showed how uneven he was as he used himself differently on each side to compensate this R/h side injury. I led him over raised poles in straight lines. Then I sent him away to a holistic vet for 10 days who 'mobilised his sacrum' and gave him various herbs to aid ligament repair and acupuncture. Then I turned him away on her advice late summer 2012 for 18 months in the end as he had mental issues because he had been ridden abused with this injury being so well bred and the expectation for him to be a Grand Prix horse.
I brought him back into inhand work, to socialise him with humans now the pain was largely fixed. Summer 2014 I engaged a straightness trainer and she taught him how to move correctly bio mechanically. We did weekly straightness sessions and incredibly his R/h hoof capsule actually changed and grew larger (hubby is a farrier).
He has always been barefoot with me and he has the straightest action in a horse i have ever owned. I started gentle ridden work last autumn, but we had a couple of set backs. He always had a stiffness on his left front end his shoulder was very stiff and everyone assumed it was related as the diagonal to the R/h SI issue but after animal comic atin I realised there was an issue hence his reluctance on l/h rein. 5 cranial sacral sessions sorted that out. I still had/have a problem with a mental block/memories and he tenses ridden. So now I have started natural horsemanship with him as something totally different and not dressage or schooling related to relax him and he absolutely loves it. A changed horse indeed, no aggression whatsoever.
 
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I don't have much in the way of pics, but I have a lightweight KWPN mare who (at age 5) presented with barely a 1/10th lameness on RH which was initially put down to weakness (by the vet I used at the time!), and who subsequently progressed to rearing when asked to move off the leg into a contact. She struggled hugely to 'sit' in a downward transition.

She is of a weak and leggy type, and we initially thought it was a strength issue. Over the next couple of weeks, the lameness (which was more just the odd 'off' step) progressed into an odd plaiting motion with the right hind - she'd swing it outwards rather than up and through and the vet focused greatly on the hocks. No amount of flexion testing produced any lame steps at all though.
She also developed a fist size depression in the muscle over her right butt cheek, and the hoof growth on the near hind became compromised due to her action - hoof became very flared on the outside and upright on the inside where she was pushing that leg under herself. Bute trial made limited difference and the vet recommended 4 weeks of walking. However, it was clear the mare wasn't happy (or right!) so I insisted on a referral.
A trip to Liphook, investigations and a bone scan revealed nothing of interest so she came home and was turned away for the best part of 2 years.
Now 12 weeks back into work and (touch wood) seems to be going ok. The muscle depression has gone and she moves straight again. As a youngster she was one of those horses that play hard in the field and I suspect that she ran straight at the fenceline, skidded to a stop and did the splits.

This photo was taken just before she went lame and you can see how naturally weak she is over the pelvis / back. She's very much a front wheel drive and has a flamboyant forelimb action but takes a lot of work to develop behind and I think that this predisposed her to the injury.



Do feel free to pm if you want any more info!
 
My heavy weight Shire X had an issue in this area. It was diagnosed by my Chiro Vet. We think it was linked to issues with his off fore and the horse compensating for the issue. He would/could not take up the correct canter lead on the right rein, even when his left shoulder was blocked. He was stiff through the back and hollow, tight hamstrings In fact when he moved it was like the front end pulled along the rear. He received massage and acupuncture and was " not right" for a long while. I did get him back to dressage but he never really felt right again. Rather then go through a lengthy and expensive investigation to find out , no doubt , it was linked to arthritis , I retired him and turn him out. After several months in the field left alone he look fantastic , the vet saw him and said to try riding him again at a walk. He loved it and now he is semi retired and we hack. I am aware that there are still issues with his arthritis but the rear end motor feels fine.
No pictures , sorry.
 
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