Supraspinous ligament damage anyone?

[izmeister]

Hi, my horse has just been diagnosed with the above, after we suspected he had kissing spines. he has had a steroid injection, and we have been told to rest him then loads of lunging in a pessoa/ longreining. he is on bute.This is new to me, anybody got any experience of it?? anything more i can be doing for him?

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

If you do a search on supraspinous ligaments you should find my old posts.

Unfortunately for me, my horse never came right and was pts. He had stem cell treatment because he was insured but, to be honest, I don't actually believe my vets had a clue what they were doing for him. I think its quite a grey area all in all and is quite hard to diagnose and treat.

However, fingers crossed for your horse and hope he recovers well.

 

[wyrdsister]

One of my girls has this (in conjunction with a bunch of other issues, including sacroiliac damage and hoof problems that have ultimately led to her being a very bored field ornament!). Isolating the supraspinous ligament damage, though, with steroid injections and a lot of very careful rehab work, hers was manageable - the last combined vet and physio visit she had she was strong and comfortable there again. But she did need regular physio visits and three monthly saddle checks to avoid reinjuring it. Fingers crossed things go better for your beastie!

If you want some further ideas for supporting him - hiring a really good physio is usually a fair bet, supplementing magnesium can help with repairing muscle damage (as well as acting as a calmer when he's supposed to be resting!), and if possible hydrotherapy - can you box to the beach and give him a swim when he's completed his rehab? Keeping the back warm helps keep the blood flowing to the affected tissue too. Oh, and it may seem obvious, but keep yourself as fit as possible while you're only doing the groundwork with him and get your back adjusted too - you will probably have unconsciously been compensating for his issues for a while. Being crooked or slightly out of balance yourself won't be the best thing for him once you get back on board!

 

[neen]

My horse was diagnosed with this in the autumn. He had a course of shockwave therapy and then a course of physio and then came slowly back into work under physio supervision. The vets were very guarded about his prognosis and I had no faith whatsoever in the SWT but it seemed to do the trick and he is going very well now, and is coming home from the rehab yard in a couple of weeks.