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  Discussion on Time off for sore back
Author Message
Member:
ngossage

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 5, 2007 - 8:29 pm:

Evening, Dr. O & HA friends. I posted last/this year under Lameness>Localizing Lameness>Need Help w/ Lameness about my horses' ongoing undiagnosed lameness.

When I took Bobcat to see a different vet in mid May, he said the hopping that my horse was doing was because my saddle didn't fit (horse was sound as a dollar w/o tack on). He didn't think it was arthritis in the hocks at all. He showed me why my saddle didn't fit and did a chiropractic exam/adjustment and I could see that poor Bobcat was indeed very sore (almost buckled to his knees with palpation). He told me to give him a couple of weeks off. When I tried him 2 weeks after, in a saddle that I know fits him, he still did the hopping thing and wanted to canter. Waited another week, tried again, same thing. Called the vet, and he said to give 2 grams of bute a day for a week, then 1 gram for a week, and if no better to do a reconsult. He's now been on 2 grams of bute for a week, and when I tried him, no improvement.

I read the article on Lower Back Pain in horses and see rest, rest, rest along with bute is the prescribed rx. My first question is, is there some sort of time frame for sore backs due to improper saddle fit (in this case, the tree was too wide, coming down and hurting him).

I'm going to give him another week of rest/bute, and then retest in hand/under saddle, and if not better, I'll call the vet back to schedule another exam. He mentioned when I talked to him last week that if Bobcat wasn't better after the 2 weeks of bute, I'd probably need to take him back out and xrays would be in order. He mentioned kissing spines and that when they're able to locate via xray the area of impingement, they can inject cortisone shots into the area to help. Does this sound reasonable?

Thanks for any thoughts/input!
Nicole
Member:
ellab

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 6, 2007 - 8:15 am:

Have you tried RVI? It is supposed to be the miracle drug for sore backs.

My vet says that they can get sore backs from almost any soreness. That if treatment for the back does not cause improvement than it is most likely secondary pain from somewhere else.

EllaB
Member:
ngossage

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 6, 2007 - 8:51 am:

Hi, Ella. I hadn't heard of RVI, but just did a quick search on the HA site. Doesn't seem like there's concrete proof that this measles vaccine can help sore muscles, but will ask my vet about it next time I talk to him.

Starting to wonder myself if it's secondary, to something else, but he was sound for 2 months while using a friend's dressage saddle. As soon as I put the new wide tree saddle on him, that's when the hoppiness started occurring (it was at the end of a work session, then worked it's way to the beginning).

Maybe I just need to be patient and give him more time to rest and stop trying him for 5-10 minutes every Sunday like I've been doing. I can say that before owning Bobcat, patience wasn't one of my fortes. Amazing what these friends teach us.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 6, 2007 - 9:01 am:

Hello Nicole,
There is no time frame for traumatic injury of the back and it will depend on the nature and amount of damage done to the tissues. I have had traumatic injury to the back take 6 to 9 months to rehab back to riding following severe injury to the back. Depending on diagnosis and stage of injury there is a lot more you can be doing than just rest and bute, this is described in the article. If following radiography a suspicious area is found, this needs to be confirmed and this is also described in the article.

Concerning RVI (Rubeola Virus Immunomodulator) there is a small amount of preliminary research studies supporting its use in horses for some poorly defined chronic inflammatory conditions of the muscoskeletal system. Though this product has been around a while there has not been any dependable studies to support or counter the somewhat remarkable claims for this product. I consider this product experimental and would not recommend it's use routinely, I guess you might consider it if all else fails.
DrO
Member:
ngossage

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 6, 2007 - 9:33 am:

Thanks, Dr. O. I'm thinking about trying acupuncture treatments to help the recovery process, and will ask my vet about that (they have a vet in the practice who performs that service).
Nicole
Member:
ellab

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 6, 2007 - 2:17 pm:

I was reading this site on RVI. What are your thoughts Dr. O.

www.eudaemonic.net/agentfor.htm


Thanks,

EllaB
Member:
ellab

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 6, 2007 - 2:19 pm:

I do know that this is the distributor for the meds so they would have a powerful reason ($) to make it sound good but they have some studies showing remarkable success.

EllaB
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jun 7, 2007 - 6:47 am:

Those are the studies I comment on above Ellab.
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