# Trapped nerve in back



## CBAnglo (23 December 2008)

A friend's horse has been having back problems.  All scans/xrays came back clear so the vet said by process of elimination he thought it was a trapped nerve. 

Anyone have any experience of this and what the outcome was?  Horse is fly bucking all over the place and is not safe to ride.  Will be retired to a field if needs be (they have their own land) but horse is only 7 and very talented sjer (or was).

thanks


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## paulineh (23 December 2008)

if it is a trapped nerve then surely a chiropractor could help.


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## CBAnglo (23 December 2008)

The chiropractor did some manipulation and he was fine for about 2 weeks, and then relapsed.

The vet said that a horse's spine is so string that you need a huge force to be able to adjust it - simply manipulating the area relieves the inflammation in the short term but then in a couple of weeks it will relapse.

The horse could be buted for walking hacks but it was meant to be a sjer so would be better just to retire it if that is the case.  The amount of bute required to numb the pain for anything other than 20 mins of walk would be at a toxic level.


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## bailey14 (23 December 2008)

Was a portable xray machine used to reach a diagnosis or was the horse referred to an equine hospital with a larger more powerful machine?  The reason I ask is that my previous horse had xrays using a portable xray machine on his neck bones following an fall in the field, and being unable to raise his neck.  Turned out he had wobblers syndrome but this was only diagnosed some 3 months later at Liverpool with a very powerful xray machine.  The portable xray machine my vet used at the yard was not powerful enough to pick up a picture through the muscle mass in the neck.  My horse suffered needlessly whilst waiting for a correct diagnosis one of the reasons being because the portable xrays did not reveal the truth.


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## bailey14 (23 December 2008)

My chiropractor told me that if a horses pelvis was out you would need an army of men to 'push it' back into place.  Its the muscles that hold bones in place to an extent, so the muscles need to be manipulated and coaxed into relaxing so that the bones can sort themselves out.  The problem may not necessary be back related, as you probably know for example you yourself could have a sore ankle and this would change the way you walk and hold yourself together.  Over a period of time you could start to ache in your shoulders simply due to the fact that you are trying to ease the pain in your ankle by standing and walking differently.


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## lochpearl (23 December 2008)

she didn't go to the same people that we did, did she??? Is it worth getting a second opinion? I would wonder if something would show on a bone scan?

I was talking to a lady on the yard about my boy and she was telling me a story of a very talented filly she bought, I think that the longest someone could stay on was for about 10/12 mins, it would suddently after 10 mins of good work just explode.

Anyway she had all the tests under the sun and could find nothing. Anyway long sotry short, the spoke to the people that travelled her over here - she was an imported warmblood, no-one saw fit to tell her that the horse panicked in the crate on the way over went down and had to be cut out of it. After knowing this she told the vets and somehow they managed to xray at a different angle and saw that the mare had a fractured spine, as the fracture was underneath they hadn't seen it on normal xrays but was very visible when she was xrayed more or less upside down.

I know it's a long shot but I was willing to try it for my boy if nothing changed!!! xx


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## lochpearl (23 December 2008)

apologise for the spelling!!


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## CBAnglo (23 December 2008)

Full scans of the entire body + xrays were taken at a very well known vet clinic (yes the same one LP).  These were looked at by different vets though and came to the same conclusion - it is nothing to do with the bones or tendons etc yet horse is in severe pain when ridden.

Horse was exhibiting severe muscle spasms usually associated with Kissing Spines or arthritic changes in the back - none of these showed up on any of the xrays or scans (no hot spots at all really).  However if you press on the horse's back there is a huge reaction to the pressure of your hand.  As soon as a rider gets on he hollows his back and then walks as though it is two different horses with the back bowed under the rider.

After 20 mins of work (only walk and some trot) the back is so sore that the horse immediately steps away from pressure.  He is clearly not happy being worked and the muscles are very tight - locked back again. 

Previously horse was in full work and was jumping well.  Nothing conformational gives any clues (he has a short strong back).  

Vet said only seen similar twice before and it was due to a nerve trapped between the vertrebrae.  The only thing that could be done was to manipulate the spine using a sling suspended from the ceiling (such as the one used in operations) under sedation and see if that worked.  He said he has done it twice before - once it worked and horse ok the other time horse remained the same (question mark over whether anything else was wrong with that horse but it ended up being pts).

Think the horse will be fine in retirement, but as he is talented owners dont want to give up on him but have plenty of other horses to ride so not bothered about buting up for 20 mins of walk work a week.  

Dont think getting the chirpopractor out every 2 weeks will be feasible and unlikely to work long term.


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## baeloclaudia (23 December 2008)

I retired my mare with a suspected trapped nerve in her neck, at the site of a fractured vertebra. It obviously caused her distress when it 'pinched' and made her quite dangerous to sit on! I tried on a couple of occasions after long periods of field rest to bring her back into work, but the problem was obviously permanent.

After several years of being a brood mare I have eventually had her PTS. It always worried me that in someone else's hands she may be ridden again and injure someone.


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## CBAnglo (23 December 2008)

baeloclaudia - did you ever try to manipulate the vertebrae?  That is what the vet is suggesting (although the potential site is in the lower thoracic/upper lumbar region).


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## baeloclaudia (23 December 2008)

It was damage very high up in the poll - the one behind axis IIRC. 
It showed up as bone inflamation on a gamma scan, and a damaged vertebra on xray. 
We could only assume that it was a trapped nerve that caused the problem as it was such a violent and extreme reaction - particularly if she pulled on the reins, for example. Or when trotting around the field with her neck arched - she would suddenly develop a sharp twitch to the left. 
At times she would put her nose around to her shoulder and hold it there, and refuse to move (It appeared to give her some relief in that position) but then when you straightened her and asked her to move forwards she would go off like a firecracker! 

It wasn't as bad as it sounds though - she was able to live a happy and full life retired to the field and kept in a stress free environment.

I would certainly give manipulating it a try. Best of luck. 
xx
We tried both chiro and physio treatments, but neither helped. The physio in particular she objected to and we had to stop that as it seemed to cause more problems than it fixed.


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## IronTiger (24 December 2008)

I would get the horse referred to Avon Vale in Oxford- they have amazing back manipulators there, the technique was pioneerd by Anthony Pewsey, he manipulated horses backs under GA and they came out looking awesome..
Not many people/vets seem to realise just how good Avon Vale are for sorting out back problems? far better than any normal physio/chiro.


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## baeloclaudia (24 December 2008)

http://www.touchoxford.com/business/list/bid/1337965

Is this them?

Interesting. One of my other horses is suffering from a pelvic injury. Will bear this in mind as progress id disapointing at the moment. Thanks.


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## suzysparkle (27 December 2008)

Yes. My first horse had this problem. She was seen by a vet college who could see nothing on scans so said it must be bad behaviour!!! The chiro helped but same thing, relapsed after a few days. This mare appeared lame on all 4 legs and put her ears right back whenever ridden. She refused to go forward as well. 
In the end, I had equine bowen done then did a 4 month programme of long reining and lungeing in a pessoa. I changed her saddle into a saddle company one as well. She had 4 bowen treatments in all. The area she had causing problems was just behind the saddle. It was like touching rock it was so hard. 
After all the treatments, and being brought back into work with lots of lateral work and hills on hacking she was fine!!!


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## TarrSteps (27 December 2008)

Interesting.  I had a similar situation in a horse referred for "behavioural" problems and with a significant event in his past that almost certainly resulted in a high neck injury.  The vet (on my suggestion) "blocked" the neck to diagnose and the difference, even with the horse sedated and still, was immediate and startling.  One of those "you don't know how bad it is until it improves" situations.  Subsequently they horse was treated with a long term block and cortisone, which allowed me to treat and work him in a "therapeutic" way and by the time he *should* have needed another injection he was fine without.

NOW, this story had an unhappy ending.  The original injury was still there, of course, even though the horse was fine to look at and ride.  The owners sold the horse without disclosing his history, the new owners were not suitable for the horse and chose to deal with the situation by slapping him in draw reins and similar, his neck degraded again, and his behaviour worsened.  The woman got hurt, passed him on to someone else without disclosing, he hurt her too (I found all this out later, completely by chance) . . . I wish I'd never helped sort him out.  

The other question is how "fixed" does the horse need to be?  Often if the reason for pursing a career is that the horse is extremely talented then the expectation is he will be as sound and successful as a horse that's never sustained a significant problem.  I don't think this is usually realistic.  But I do know horses who *should* have been GP horses before they had an injury ending up jumping successfully at lower levels where the strain is lower and there is more scope to manage the horse individually.


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## sport horse (28 December 2008)

As you have clear x rays and scans there would seem to be no problem with trying physiotherapy and acupuncture. We have made a huge improvement using both techniques on a horse that had been receiving veterinary treatment from several top class vet hospitals for two years at a cost I would prefer not to discuss! Finally before giving up for good, and totally against all my scientific background,  I rang a Physic, much to the amusement of everyone in the yard. She diagnosed a trapped nerve in the pelvic area. While not yet totally sound, after just 6 weeks he is better than at any time since the problem first arose. He also looks better in himself and is bucking and squealing in the field. He is still only walking under saddle but I really feel we have made progress. We may or may not effect a complete cure time will tell.


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