Equine Massage & Injury Rehabilitation
Laura Attaway, LMP, ESMT II

I was recently involved in the rehabilitation of a sixteen year old Quarter Horse mare named Maggy, owned by 9 year old Amber Swyers of Spokane WA. Maggy is an active mare who sliced open her left pastern on a piece of sheet metal. Immediately after the injury, she was taken to Spokane Equine Hospital where Dr. Lance Alexander stabilized and treated the injury. Maggy was put in a cast from the ankle down and returned home with Dr. Alexander's instructions to limit her movement by confining her to a 12x12 stall for two weeks. Maggy now faced her recovery and also side affects such as fluid accumulation, painful muscles and scar tissue. Massage was able to help immensely during the recovery process. Please note that massage on an injured horse should ALWAYS be approved by your Veterinarian and never performed within the first 72 hours or during the acute phase of the injury.

 

Palpating along Maggy's spine to detect areas of tension or holding.

A horse relies on the pumping action created by walking to move blood and lymphatic fluid up from the leg especially the lower leg. An injury needs a good supply of fresh blood to bring in oxygen and nutrition to the injury site and to flush the by-products of the injury away and back to the kidneys for elimination from the body. Restricted to a stall, Maggy was unable to walk very much and provide for this pumping action. Manual flushing, firmly running the fingers and palms of the hands up the leg draws the fluid up, simulating some of the pumping action created in walking. This manual flushing along with kneading the leg muscles moves the stagnate fluids from the leg and allows it to be replaced by fresh blood and lymphatic fluid. Maggy didn't have a lot of edema (swelling), but massage was able to increase the very important blood flow to the injury site. Maggy's whole body hurt from the trauma and this is the second area that massage was of great benefit.

Breaking up an adhesion in the injured leg to increase flexibility and circulation.

Sore muscles were Maggy's primary problem during recovery. When she backed into the sheet metal and pain shot through her body, her first response was to "hike" her leg up, away from the source of the pain, like a male dog does while relieving himself. Obviously this movement isn't a normal one for a horse's hip joint and it pulled and tore muscle tissues and tendons. Her left hip joint was very painful. Plus when a horse injures a leg, the leg on the diagonal of the injury will get weighted more to compensate. So, Maggy's left leg hurt from the injury, her right foreleg and shoulder hurt from compensating and her back from the twisting between the two. On top of that, Maggy was used to being in the pasture, always on the move. Her muscles were now stiff from not being used. You can see how an injury to one leg affects the whole horse. When Maggy was massaged, she was treated as a whole horse, massaged from head to hoof. Through massage over three weeks time, Maggy's body was relieved of much of the pain and tenderness. Massage helped break up the knotted muscle fibers created from non-use and injury and flushed the muscles of old blood and lymphatic fluid that weren't being moved naturally through movement. Basically, massage stepped in when the nature of the injury made it so that Nature needed some help. Left untreated, Maggy's muscles would have been stiff and sore and saddling and riding her would have been an adventure in pain for her and possibly her rider.

Increasing circulation through compression and release within the muscle tissue.

Scar tissue is Maggy's third hurdle. While scar tissue is a natural result of an injury, it can also cause problems down the line. Muscle fibers, tendon fiber, and ligaments all have their fibers running in the direction of movement in a healthy uninjured state. When these fibers are torn or cut, the scar tissue that replaces it, is laid down in a criss-cross manner. This scar tissue, left untouched, can become stiff and very inflexible. When a bone is broken, the site of the break actually becomes stronger than the surrounding bone, the same is true in muscle tissue. Once a bone or muscle has been injured, future tears or breaks will occur above or below the site, due to the strength of the scar tissue. Massage CAN NOT stop the development of scar tissue, however consistent daily massage after the acute phase can add flexibility to the developing scar tissue. This is very beneficial for muscle tears and pulls. Massaging the scar tissue within the muscle tissues can prevent future pulls and tears within the same muscle. Care should always be taken when working around a sutured wound to maintain cleanliness. This was done with diligence and Maggy runs less of a risk of future pulls or tears because of this.

Massage is a great tool for maintaining your horse's health and aids in rehabilitation after injury. Any time your horse's movement is restricted through being stalled from injury or not being able to move freely because of an injury, massage can step in and greatly speed recovery.

Maggy is a very fortunate horse. Through expert Veterinary care, massage and a concerned and dedicated owner, she will have more years of providing trail rides and teach many more children the joys of riding.

Stay tuned to next month's issue of Horse Previews for an update on Maggy's progress and her first ride after that fateful day. If you have any questions regarding horse massage or would like to schedule a massage for your horse, please contact Laura J. Attaway, LMP, ESMT II at 509-990-9608 or Ljme@worldnet.att.net