Page 92 - BSR 2022

EQUINE HEALTH
The most common reasons for taping a horse include issues with circulation, fascia, ligaments or tendons, and scar tissue.
extends all over the body.
Deep fascia is the envelope covering each
muscle. Every muscle fiber is wrapped with fascia, as is the whole muscle. Between the superficial and deep fascia there is continuity of fascial and fascial planes. Fascial movement throughout the body provides proprioceptive feedback to the brain and body. You know when you are leaning back and what to move to keep your balance because the fascial is sending stimulus to your brain about the position of your muscles and body parts. Fascia always allows continuous transfer of information about location and tension everywhere in the musculoskeletal system. Any adhesion, scar, or limitation can change that information highway. Tape is also useful for functional correction
to assist or restrict a motion (flexion or extension) by changing the brain’s perception of the joint’s position through increased tension at the skin or joint capsule. The tape is placed under tension while the joint is at the end of its range of motion, either flexion or extension. This creates space over the muscle, tendon, or joint area being treated when the joint is in its desired position and stimulates receptors in the skin and joint capsule when the joint is nearing the end of its range of motion. The same tension that triggers these proprioceptive impulses also acts like a pre-load
on the tendon, muscle, or joint; it mimics the tension in the structure just before it reaches its end range of motion, warning of imminent injury if it moves further. These two actions cause the brain to send out nerve signals to stimulate the opposite movement. Thus, the tape can assist motion of a muscle or joint, either contraction or extension, and resist the opposite motion.
If a joint needs assistance in flexion, the
tape should be applied so that during extension the tension produced by the tape on the skin increases to a level where the resulting stimulus is perceived as the joint having reached the end of normal joint motion. This causes the body to limit overstretching or hyper-mobility of the injured structure and helps prevent re-injury. Flexion can be assisted by the same increased tension, which
is perceived as end range of motion tension and signals a return of the structure to the desired position. This is the point where the tape tension lifts the skin, creating space below the skin. The space reduces the mechanoreceptor stimulation triggered by the tape when the joint is either flexed or extended, depending upon the tape application.
To accomplish these activities, the tape must be applied under tension so that the action
of flexion or extension causes a pull that will trigger skin and joint capsule receptors to release stimuli to the brain. In response to the stimuli, the brain sends impulses to muscles to either assist or limit a joint motion.
The body will change joint position to return the increased tension on the skin to normal. The use of kinesiotape for functional correction is complicated but can stabilize a joint when the supporting ligamentous structures have been injured without preventing joint motion which can cause adhesions.
Ligament/tendon correction can be aided
when the tape supports injured tendons and ligaments without limiting motion to facilitate proper realignment of strained or torn fibers during healing without overuse and re-injury. The tape
is applied over an injured tendon or ligament to stimulate the mechanoreceptors in the skin or joint capsule and influence the golgi tendon organ. This is a tree-like sensory ending enclosed in a spindle- like capsule of connective tissue that lies near the junction of a tendon with a muscle.
This organ is located within every muscle spindle and is the primary receptor that transmits information to the brain about the specific muscle tissue’s tension level - how relaxed or contracted it is. The brain receives these proprioceptive stimuli.
The goal of the tape is to create mechanoreceptor and golgi tendon organ input like the pre-injury state. In response to the healthy-state signals, the brain sends impulses for normal - not protective - motion and use of the structure. To support the injured structure during this motion, the tape is applied with more stretch than other applications. Depending upon the severity of the injury, other motion-limiting wraps may be required in addition to Kinesiotaping. The tape may be used simultaneously with poultices, sweats and medicated wraps without inhibiting their effects.
Mechanical correction provides functional support to muscles, fascial tissue, or joints without preventing active range of motion or inhibiting circulation. The tape may be applied to directly assist in the correct positioning of the structure
or to prevent pathological motion. The correct positioning is attained by stimulating a sensation in the skin, in multiple or deeper muscles, or in multiple tissue layers, which causes the body to
Kinesiology tape lifts the skin and allows for free movement of lymphatic fluid, reduces friction between tissues in the skin, increases blood, moves lactic acid, and removes tension from muscles.
90 SPEEDHORSE
“Kinesiology addresses the physiological, biomechanical, and psychological dynamic principles and mechanisms of movement.”