sacroiliac injury

[Sexy Sietske]

What is it and can a horse recover from it?? What are the relateed heath issue on a long term basis??

[connieD]

ive never heard of it in a horse but i have damaged the sacroiliac joint from a fall. i think its where the hip joints the pelvis. i suppose it depends on what type of injury it is. if it is a fracture, bones generally heal or, if it is as in my case and its the ligaments strained around the area it can heel with rest and the gradually increasing exercise to strengthen the ligaments again.

the problem i have is my right hip is very immobile because all the muscles around the joint have tensed. the have to have traction put on my leg (get someone to pull it:rolleyes: ) and then rotate my leg from the hip to loosen the joint. i suppose if you put that into horse terms some sort of physio may help.

sorry i cant be of more help - if it is simmilar to what happens in humans i dont see why your horse shouldnt make a full recover - it may just mean he has a stiffness there as he gets older. good luck:)

[CurlyWurlyRach]

curly mucked up her sacrillac (sp) when she reared over backwards and her hip clicked out, the physio clicked it back in and gave her a month of long and low work in walk, introduce trot for another month and then spend a month cantering and gridwork jumping.

i didnt get it looked at straight away so her back muscles developed funny to compensate so i have to undo 9 months of muscle :(

[Bebe]

Sacroiliac problems vary depending on exactly what is wrong. It can be a strain to the ligament resulting in a hip appearing lower, the severity of this can vary between non-serious (and a visit from a good chiro can sort it out in one session), to an all out catastrophic failure due to the ligaments tearing. Generally the outlook is better if the joint itself isn't damaged.

Usually the cause of a sacroiliac injury is a slip or fall, horse does the splits behind, lands awkwardly from jumping but sometimes a weak hindquarter can be the culprit.

Bebe came to me after a years field rest for what the vets thought would be a career ending sacroiliac problem. I got her sound enough for hacking but 7 months later she strained the other side, though to a lesser degree and had a further 2 months off. In the years since then she's had the odd problem that's been resolved through chiropractic treatment and Bowen therapy. Recently though she's had serious problems and is just coming to the end of 2months rest, though this time it's been complicated by saddle issues so not strictly a SI problem.

For Bebe the keys to keeping her sound are:

Regular, appropriate work to keep good muscle tone
Balanced hooves
An incredibly well fitting saddle, there's not much margin for error
Regular Equine Touch/Bowen therapy to keep muscles soft and supple
At least Bi-annual visits from a McTimoney Chiropractor
Joint supplement

Providing all those are in place, you'd never know she had ever had a problem. There's a limit to the amount of work she can do in terms of carrying weight behind as it's too fine a line between strengthening her hindquarters and straining them. I also don't tend to jump her as a precaution.

[nutkin]

I agree with everything Bebe has said.My last horse had an injury to her sacroilliac joint.In her case it was serious and meant that she couldn't jump.I sold her almost 2 years ago now and see her all the time as she is kept on the same yard as my horse.She is regularly hacked out and kept out as much as possible to help keep her free moving and comfortable but she now has problems in her coffin joint which is as a direct result of the sacroilliac injury.She has to have regular injections to keep her sound and in work.The coffin joint has become arthritic because of the way she compensated for her injury and apparantly forelimb problems are common in horses that have had a previous sacroilliac injury.