BK Veterinary Physiotherapy

11/12/2025

These photos show the difference in this horse’s scapula from the start to the end of today’s session. Her owner had noticed she was struggling with lateral movements, and connecting over the back on a circle.

At the beginning, the shoulder area was held tight with noticeable fascial restriction. Through targeted and gentle physiotherapy techniques, the tissue gradually softened and the scapula gained much more freedom of movement.

Releasing tension in this area helps improve stride length, comfort, and overall biomechanics. Allowing the horse to open the shoulder, connect over the back, and utilise the power from the hind end to achieve lightness in the forehand.

It’s always rewarding to see how the body responds when the fascia is given time and space to let go.

09/12/2025

🐾 Loving Our New Underwater Treadmill for Dogs! 🐾

Very excited to share how much everyone has been loving the new Underwater Treadmill (UWTM) here at the clinic! 💦🐶

Since introducing it, we’ve already seen some amazing progress in our canine patients – from improved mobility and strength, to increased confidence and comfort with movement. The buoyancy of the water helps reduce joint stress, while the resistance gently builds muscle, making it perfect for post-surgery rehab, arthritis, weight management, and general conditioning.

Watching dogs regain their movement and sparkle has been incredibly rewarding. If you think hydrotherapy or UWTM rehab could benefit your dog, feel free to get in touch or book a consultation

📞 07880327662
📍 BB6 7DE

04/12/2025

04/12/2025

Today I wanted to share a little tribute to a very special boy — Fudge ❤️🐾

Fudge has been with me through my physio journey from being a student. I met him and his owners Sue and John shadowing greetham at the vets running a hydro-physio clinic. Since qualifying I continued to run the clinic independently for Rachel and saw fudge very regularly. Sadly a couple of weeks ago Fudge passed away at the grand age of 15.

His owners have kept in touch since and recently sent me these photos to of him enjoying his favourite part of his physio - Laser therapy and a lovely message 🩵

“𝑯𝒊 𝑩𝒆𝒗! 𝑯𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅. 𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕. 𝑰’𝒎 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 😢𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖! 𝑲𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒏! 𝒙𝒙”

22/11/2025

Equine and Canine friends!

As the nights are drawing in and the weather getting cold, getting out and about can be difficult. Polework and under water treadmill can be a fantastic way to keep your pets supple and strong over the winter months
🐶🩵🐴

22/11/2025

🐴 This week I was lucky enough to attend a full horse dissection as part of my professional training.

It was incredibly interesting and really brought home how complex, interconnected, and able to adapt the horse’s body truly is.

I have noted a few interesting observations below but I feel like I could chatter on about this for hours so if you want to know more please feel free to ask, comment, or message.

One of the points we looked at the effects of unnatural postures on the horse. We put the horses head into a natural position and unnatural positions to see how the tissues were affected. The effects of unnatural postures was noted in the horses soft tissue adaptations. We saw thickening of c2 (cervical vertebrate 2) bursa and associated thickening of the Nuchal ligament over the same area, suggesting the horse had been worked in an overbent posture causing irritation to the tissues rubbing against one another. Interestingly the horse also had thickening of the nasal bone - suggesting a tight nose band had been worn.

Sadly the horse dissected had extensive bowel and kidney necrosis along with systemic synovitis (joint inflammation), and calcium deposits in most joints, thyroid, and perotid gland. Although it can not be linked through dissection it highlighted the link between gut dysfunction and systemic inflammation. This has always been a topic of conversation so being able to see it with my own eyes has solidified alot of my beliefs.

In the photo below is the lens from the horses eye, you can see how it magnifies the writing on the paper. This lens should be clear, but as you can see it is quite yellow, the retina was also very greyed, suggesting this horse would have had trouble with his eye sight - especially in dusk / dark environments. Interestingly I often hear ‘my horse has gotten more spooky as they have gotten older’ in these circumstances pain.. or as demonstrated eyesight should be considered as a cause to changes in behaviour.

We did not know the history of this horse so could not relate behaviour to anything we saw. We discussed another horse Beck has dissected who had displayed behavioural discomfort, had had lots and lots of investigations, including scintigraphy amounting to approximately £15,000 in vet bills with no findings. On dissection the horses spinal cord had dura haemorrhaging (bleeding) likely causing huge discomfort and causing the explosive behaviour the horse had developed!

Always, always listen to your horse if they are uncomfortable they will tell you! We just have to listen.

Lastly the effect of working young horses was observed and discussed, including fused bones (SIJ in this case), bicep tendon lesions, and growth plate damage. Further discussions reported these are extremely common findings in the racing industry and once damage is done it cannot be undone 😞.

Experiences like this help me look at the whole horse, and appreciate how stoic horses are and how strong their will to live can be
- despite the internal and musculoskeletal dysfunction the horse died with a full stomach. Having an understanding of the horse as a whole supports my ability to support horses and owners more effectively through rehabilitation and performance care.

Always learning for the benefit of the horses I get to work with 🐴 🩵

18/11/2025

I think it’s called a ‘horricinating’ first day 😅

Some very fascinating and horrifying finds. Including necrosis of the kidneys and small intestines along with systemic synovitis.

16/11/2025

Be gentle with sidewaysing!

The stifle is a knee joint and as you will probably be able to appreciate is designed for flexion and extension and nothing else.

Take care of the horse's stifles! Even though "disengaging the hindquarters" is a popular technique when training young or unschooled horses, it taxes the stifles and often leads to soreness and dysfunction. Stifles are not designed well for sideways movement of the limbs.They must first be made stable and strong with forward, balanced work. Otherwise, not only is the stifle joint compromised, but the supporting musculature which originates from higher up the pelvis and lower back is also strained. The result is often inflamed joints, diminished range of motion, and poor use of the hind limbs. So, at the risk of being controversial, I would encourage all of us to avoid disengaging the hindquarters in an unfit horse.

15/11/2025

A good MDT and knowledge of when and where to refer is one of the most valuable attributes in a professional

The “Stifle Lameness” That Wasn’t: A Story About Referred Pain

I once had a client who told me about a horse that developed an odd, on-again off-again hind-end lameness that no one could quite pin down. Some days the horse looked off behind, as if his stifle was sore; other days he moved completely normally. Nothing about it followed the usual patterns. Things that should have made a stifle issue worse didn’t seem to, and things that “should have” helped it, didn’t.

We were all very confused.

One day, the vet happened to be on the property with a brand-new scope and offered to scope several horses for gastric ulcers — partly to familiarize themselves with the equipment. When they scoped this particular horse, they found significant stomach ulcers.

The horse was placed on a veterinarian-directed ulcer-care plan, and within a few weeks, something unexpected happened:
the ulcers healed, and the mysterious “stifle lameness” vanished along with them.

It turned out the stifle itself had never been the problem. The horse had been expressing ulcer-related visceral pain as stifle discomfort — a classic example of referred pain.

Why Ulcers Can Look Like Hind-End or Stifle Issues

This situation is a great illustration of how the equine body handles pain. Signals from the internal organs and the limbs travel through overlapping pathways in the spinal cord.

Here’s what science tells us:

1. Visceral nerves and musculoskeletal nerves converge.

The stomach and the hindquarters share overlapping spinal segments, especially through the thoracolumbar region. When the stomach is irritated, the brain can misinterpret those signals as coming from the back, pelvis, or stifle.

2. Fascia connects everything.

The deep fascial membranes link the viscera to the musculoskeletal system. When the gut is irritated, the horse may brace through the abdomen and back, altering pelvic motion and limb loading.

3. Protective guarding changes movement patterns.

A horse in visceral discomfort often holds tension through the core, diaphragm, and back. This can create subtle gait irregularities that look orthopedic but aren’t.

When the gastric discomfort resolved under the veterinarian’s care, the nervous system stopped sending those distress signals — and the hind-end “lameness” disappeared.

✳️ Why This Matters

Not every hind-end irregularity originates in a limb. Sometimes the body is expressing visceral discomfort through movement changes.

This story is a reminder of how important it is to work closely with a wonderful veterinarian, and to consider the whole horse — inside and out.

https://koperequine.com/fascia-the-skeleton-of-the-nerves/

15/11/2025

𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 ❄️ 🌲

Monday 8th - morning
Thursday 11th - flexible
Monday 15th - flexible
Monday 22nd flexible
Wednesday 31st - flexible

Canine hydrotherapy clinic
Saturday 6th, 13th, & 20th

📞 07880327662