Fascia is often the forgotten tissue of the musculoskeletal system and until relatively recently was thought to be irrelevant. However, a greater understanding of horse movement, injury, perception, coordination, transmission of muscle force, biomechanics and the adaptations of the fascial system, have shown the importance of this tissue. There is not a vast amount of research into the equine fascial system, but human fascia research has become more prevalent over recent years as its importance has become more apparent. More research into equine fascia is coming through, however some of the human data can be extrapolated for use in the equine sphere, as in 2017 Skalec & Egerbacher investigated the structure and innervation of the deep fascia of the equine forelimb. Using dissection, histology and immunohistochemistry, they found that the general structure of the equine forelimb fascia corresponds to the characteristics of the human limb fasciae. However, Ahmed et al. in 2019, examined the histological differences between horse and dog fascia at specific regions compared with the human model, finding equine fascia exhibits a tight, dense composition, while in the dog’s is looser with non‐dense structure. Equine fascia appears to be different from canine and human fascia, whilst canine fascia is very comparable to the human model. This shows the need for more specific equine fascia research.
The Fascial System The fascial system in horses, people and dogs is an intricate complex interconnected network of tissue encompassing all fibrous connectie tissue, enveloping muscles, bones and organs individually and connecting them.I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and are looking forwards to the New Year. For a lot of people 2016 has not been a good year in many respects. A year with your horse has many ups and downs but hopefully you are all looking forward to an amazing 2017 with your horses.
On a personal front, my horse is “off” for the winter. I say “off” in inverted commas as even though technically she is out of medium-hard work which she is normally in, I’m still doing bits with her, she isn’t completely turned away. I’m doing ground work with her, lunging in Pilates bands, long reining, straightness training, riding bareback, lots of stretching and walks down the lane just to keep her ticking over. As I’m not riding quite so much, except for a few clients horses, and what with the extra Christmas goodies I have noticed a few of my clothes starting to get a bit snug! So thought I needed to do something about it and beat the new year’s resolutions, as they never work, and drag my backside from out in front of the Christmas TV to start to think about getting fit again, losing a few pounds and go for a run. I was really not in the mood but I made my self. I was determined, so with the dog, children and husband in tow we set off. I really wanted to push myself I knew I could do it so even when I felt tired I kept pushing myself to carry on. But was this the right thing to do?! No, I found, obviously! By the time I made it back home my already bad hip was killing me, when I had started to fatigue and carried on my feet had gotten clumsy so twisted my ankle twice, I hadn’t left enough time after eating so felt sick, and the following day the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) in my legs were agony and I couldn’t move for 2 days. Obviously, I know what I should have done, I should have said to myself, I’m just going to pace myself, walk for most of it and run a bit, then build it up day on day with lots of stretching in between, but when you get that determined feeling in your head your body just pushes through it. However, now I’m not feeling quite so head strong about it and it has put me off wanting to go again which defeats the object.
This is the exact same way with our horses. They may have had a bit of downtime over the Christmas/Winter period and you may be thinking about getting them back into work. Please be very aware that they, like me, need to build that fitness up slowly. Many people think, ‘My horse has only had a couple of weeks off they will be fine to get straight back in to working at the same intensity that they were before’. But this is not the case. Horses need to be brought back up to fitness slowly as there are so many different aspects to fitness; stamina, suppleness, strength, speed, there are so many different parts to the body that need all of these aspects of fitness to be built up slowly so they don’t break down with injury. Injury WILL happen if you try to do too much too quick without building all aspects of fitness slowly in all aspects of the horses body, especially the tendons, ligaments, muscles as well as the cardiovascular system.
We also need to consider the psychological effect of pushing the horse too soon. Them, again like me with my running, will not want to push themselves the next time if they think it is going to hurt, as soon as a horse starts to hurt they begin to develop compensatory mechanisms and incurring issues, pain and reduced range of movement and injuries in other areas. This time of year is a great time for getting your horse a check-up with your physical therapist. A check up and treatment with me will get them on the right track before the hard work begins again, to pick up and underlying issues and get a baseline of where you are starting the year from, and to be able to monitor progress and problems.
Many people like road work to slowly increase their horse fitness and workload, but as the amazing equine science consultant Dr David Marlin recently published on his facebook page there are many factors to consider with doing this. Some of the main points to consider are below.
Wishing you all every success and happiness with your horses in 2017. Call, text, messenger or email to book your horse in for their 2017 year start check-up.
Best wishes
Michelle
Veterinary thermography is becoming very popular and I am a big fan of it especially for horses with non-specific difficult to diagnose lameness, multiple limb lameness, to determine if a horse is in pain, or to monitor rehabilitation and treatment. However, there are some thermographers, physio’s, physical therapists, vets, companies etc. out there using industrial instead of medical/veterinary grade cameras, or even worse a thermal camera that attaches to a smart phone.
Having completed some thermography training myself I understand this is simply not acceptable for many reasons. These cameras are not specifically designed for physiological testing, they are not calibrated for measuring metabolic heat (which has a very narrow temperature range), which means they are not accurate or sensitive enough to provide useful information. The images are not taken by someone specifically trained to get the best images to see problematic areas. The images produced need to be interpreted by a veterinarian that has been specifically trained to report on these images as a ‘hot spot’ is not necessarily related to the area they are seen on the image, due to the heat following the metabolic and neural pathways. A vet or other person not specifically trained to interpret the image may start trying to self-diagnose and treat from the image which could cause serious harm to the horse and neglect of the area with the actual real problem, which obviously poses a serious welfare issue.
For my clients I only ever recommend Syncthermology for all veterinary digital infrared thermographic imaging. They are the only company using medical grade cameras in the UK, the only company that performs a stress test as standard, their technicians taking the images are highly skilled to get the best images, they have their own veterinary surgeons specifically trained to interpret and fully report on the images. These results and veterinary reports will include objective opinion, recommendation and information that will assist your own vet in making a diagnosis, in selecting further diagnostic tests if required, helping them to select treatment options and monitor recovery.
Thermography is a great tool in the right hands!! For more information see http://www.syncequine.com/ and please do not let someone with an industrial camera or smart phone app take thermal images of your horse, it may appear to be a good low cost option but chances are they have no idea what they are doing or what they are looking at!
For anyone in the North West region that wants to know more the Sync North West Team will be attending the Joanne Shaw Equestrian working hunter Clinic on Saturday 13th February. They will be holding demos throughout the day and the team will be happy to chat to you about the services they provide, and I will be there too. The address is Joanne Shaw Equestrian, Red House Farm, Barkers Hollow Road, Preston-On-The-Hill, WA4 4LL.
Fancy an intense weekend camp workshop for horse and rider? In association with Kirsty Edwards from Fit2Ride – specialised personal training for horse riders we a re running a summer camp workshop for horse and rider. Will include group Equipilates, painted horse demo, back/core and saddle check and learning how to do this for yourselves, individual mounted pilates sessions, learning stretches and massage techniques for your horse, mobility, breath and relaxation for the rider, individual postural assessment, private mounted pole work lessons, ground work with your horse, plus handouts to take home so you can continue the good work back at home. 14 – 16th August in Nantwich, Cheshire. £200 per person which also includes stables &/or grazing, BBQ, breakfast and lunch, accommodation is in your own lorry or you can sleep in the studio, camp in tents or accommodation in local Nantwich town is 5 mins away (not included in the price!). Contact me or Fit2Ride for availability and booking, hope to see you there 🙂
Over the last couple of months I have done some great CPD courses to further improve and expand on the therapies and treatments that we already offer, to be able to give animals a better all round holistic treatment encouraging optimal performance and health.
The first one I did was t-touch, which is an effective method of activating the function of the cells by opening the neural pathways, using a combination of specific touches, lifts, and movement exercises helping to release tension and increase body awareness.
The next one I did was advanced stretching and mobilisation which as an already big fan of the enormous benefits of stretching for loosening tight tissue, mobilising joints and easing away adhesions, I was really looking forwards to this one. Although most of these moves I was already doing it was good to be reminded of a few that I perhaps don’t use as much that can be really useful, or using others in a different way for a different effect.
The last one that I have just done, that I have been really impressed with is myofascial release. Mind bogglingly effective for physical and some psychological issues, even though it may appear as though you are not doing much the results can be very dramatic. Fascia is interconnected through the entire body, due to stress (physical & emotional) water is pushed out of it leaving it hard and gel like. This causes it to shorten and compress the capillaries and nerves causing ischemia, pain and imbalance, which can have far reaching effects over the entire body. The release techniques cause the collagen fibres to reorganise, allowing more hydration of the tissues and force the adhesions to release, which at the same time can cause a big emotional release and unwinding too.
Where required I have been integrating what I have learned in all these cpd courses, putting them into the treatments I have been doing recently, and getting some great results! For more information or to discuss your animal feel free to give me a call.
We aim to be a part of all horses’ and dogs’ overall health program to improve well-being, welfare, health and performance. We are completely focussed on helping you to get the best from your animal by offering a range of services all individually tailored to your animals’ specific needs at competitive prices, making it available for not only the elite athletic animals but for all horse and dog owners as part of their regular care routine. Services, therapies and techniques include McTimoney, body work, sports massage, spinal therapy, stretching, physical therapy, musculoskeletal manipulation & adjustments to realign sub-luxations, kinesio taping, stress point therapy, natural horsemanship, riding, hot and cold therapy, magnetic field therapy, schooling, training, rehabilitation, coaching, and education. Check out the rest of the website for more information, if there is anything you can’t find or would like more information on please feel free to contact us.
We cover all areas of Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, West Midlands, South Lancashire, Derbyshire, North Wales, South & West Yorkshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester. You can find us on facebook and twitter or keep a check on this blog, to keep up to date with new services, special offers, where to find us, which shows and events we will be at, etc. We will be writing monthly articles on subjects of interest on this blog, and we are hoping to open an online store very soon for all of your animals alternative therapy needs, keep an eye on the site for more details.