Page 965 - Adams and Stashak's Lameness in Horses, 7th Edition

Principles of Therapy for Lameness 931

This random, cross‐linking pattern causes increased over the dorsal spinous processes, ribs, vertebral bodies
fibrosis and thickening of the capsule. Passive range of (cervical spine), and transverse processes (lumbar spine),
VetBooks.ir by decreasing the random alignment of the collagen fib-
in the end‐of‐range functional positions.
motion exercises are proposed to work at a cellular level
ers through stimulation of physiologic motion enhanc-
52
ing parallel fiber orientation. Two very effective Soft Tissue Mobilization
mobilization techniques often used to restore joint The aim of many manual therapy techniques directed
motion and reduce pain in the horse are described by at the myofascia, tendons, and ligaments is to normalize
Goff: (1) passive physiological mobilizations, whereby tissue irritability, muscle tone, extensibility, length, con-
60
the forces being directed reproduce passive physiologi- tractility, strength, and coordination and ultimately
cal or coupled joint motion around the 3 axes of motion improve motor control. Addressing these impairments
of the affected joint complex, as occurs with voluntary in an attempt to regain function and optimize perfor-
motion, and (2) passive accessory movements, in which mance is a key feature of the rehabilitation process.
the motion produced is a translation that accompanies Muscular dysfunctions are often seen occurring sec-
rotations, which cannot be voluntarily performed by the ondarily to underlying bone pathology in horses with
horse. Figure 8.16 is an example of the application of a limb and/or back pain; however, dysfunction and/or
combination of these techniques applied to the carpus. atrophy may also be due to pathology of actual muscles
These techniques are highly applicable in mid and end such as a generalized muscle disorder, or muscle damage
of range of motion positions (as seen in Figure 8.16), attributed to a poorly fitting saddle. 58,69,159,199 Valentine
200
which is commonly the practice in human PT, rather investigated the pathological findings in equine muscle
than treatment taking place only in the neutral standing (excluding polysaccharide storage myopathy) in 229
posture. Clinically this is particularly effective in relation equids. Sixty‐five percent (n = 129) suffered muscle
to intersegmental motion in the spine. The practitioner is lesions, (13.1%, n = 30) generalized muscle atrophy, and
able to use combined mobilization with movement tech- (6.1%, n = 14) denervation atrophy. Clinical signs of
niques as described below, or with an assistant to main- myopathies have been shown to improve with dietary
tain the desired postures. Direct dorsoventral and lateral management along with a regulated exercise routine as
passive accessory glides can then be performed manually part of rehabilitation. 86

A B

Figure 8.16. Manual therapy mobilization technique. A available range of motion into flexion. The carpus is flexed, the
combination of passive physiological and passive accessory radius is stabilized, and medial (A) and lateral motions (B) are
mobilization echniques is applied to the carpus to increase the applied to the end of range via the third metacarpus.
t