Animal Bodywork Academy of New England

07/11/2025

There are lots of reasons why your horse’s notes are late but this is by far the cutest!

07/11/2025

04/11/2025

02/11/2025

Love this post! Massage and kissing spines.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Tn9dsfG5i/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Studies have shown that in horses with kissing spines (overriding or impinging dorsal spinous processes), the interspinous ligament often becomes inflamed or fibrotic.

This chronic irritation can lead to:

🔹 Increased sensory nerve fibers (hyper-innervation)
• This phenomenon, often referred to as neuronal sprouting, is common in chronically inflamed or damaged tissues.
• It heightens the area’s sensitivity to mechanical pressure, movement, or even mild touch.

🔹 Clinical Relevance
• This explains why horses with kissing spines can display dramatic or unpredictable behaviors under saddle, even if they don’t show clear signs of lameness.
• Pain from hyper-innervated tissue can be sharp, localized, and exacerbated by back movement, especially when the saddle or rider compresses the spine.

Massage therapy can be a powerful tool for horses with kissing spines.

Massage helps by:

✅ Reducing muscular tension
✅ Improving circulation
✅ Releasing fascial restrictions
✅ Reducing pain and discomfort
✅ Alleviate compensatory patterns that contribute to pain.

Over time, this support allows the horse to adopt a healthier posture—lifting through the thoracic sling, engaging the core, and reducing pressure between the spinous processes—ultimately promoting better movement and comfort.

🧠 Bonus Insight

This kind of neural adaptation is also observed in humans with chronic back pain, where ligamentous or fascial structures develop increased nociceptive input, contributing to pain sensitization and sometimes movement avoidance behaviors.

* The interspinous ligament connects the spinous processes of adjacent thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. It supports spinal stability and helps limit excessive flexion. In conditions like kissing spines, it can become inflamed, thickened, or fibrotic, contributing to pain and restricted mobility.

Massage with Myofascial Release can be a Real Game Changer for Horses with Kissing Spines - https://koperequine.com/massage-can-be-a-game-changer-for-horses-with-kissing-spines/

01/11/2025

31/10/2025

30/10/2025

🚨 Stairs add A LOT of stress to the canine body!!

In this sketch, we can see a large-breed dog descending relatively low, wide steps, and we can clearly see

🔎 The front weight-bearing paw is splayed and flattened, the carpus has dropped, and the thoracic sling is collapsing into a deep “V” at the cervicothoracic junction. All of this shows us just how much force is being transmitted through the limb - and that the limb and thoracic sling isn’t strong enough to support it!

📉 The lumbar spine is kyphotic, the pelvis is flexed and rotated, and the dog is rotating through the spine to achieve the high degrees of limb flexion required for stair descent. These are classic compensation patterns - and they are not what we want to see. Yet, this is how many dogs navigate stairs every single day in their homes.

💡 Research backs this up.
Two key studies demonstrate how stair navigation dramatically changes musculoskeletal demands compared with ramps or slopes:

👉Carr et al., 2013, Exercises in canine physical rehabilitation: Range of motion of the forelimb during stair and ramp ascent. Journal of Small Animal Practice 54(8):409–413.

👉Millard et al., 2010, Kinematic analysis of the pelvic limbs of healthy dogs during stair and decline slope walking. American Journal of Veterinary Research 71(7):734–740.

These studies show that stairs require significantly greater joint flexion and ROM - and therefore greater muscular effort - than incline walking. That increased demand can overload the thoracic sling, carpal stabilisers, lumbar spine, and cervicothoracic junction, especially in dogs with existing pathology or insufficient strength.

👩‍⚕️ How we help as Vetrehabbers:
1. ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES:
🚪Restrict access to stairs for vulnerable dogs - especially large-breed puppies, those with elbow or hip dysplasia, cruciate disease, IVDD, spondylosis, or LS stenosis.
2. EXERCISE
💪 Incorporate targeted strengthening and conditioning before dogs navigate stairs.
🏋️‍♂️ Teach correct technique and posture to reduce compensations and repetitive micro-trauma.

🦴And if this much load is being placed on a large dog, imagine what a small dog experiences as they jump up and down each step. Supervision, strength, and control are not optional - they’re essential for preventing injury.

📆 At the Vet Rehab Summit on 8 November, experts like Anna Lee Sanders, Jana Gams, and Arielle Pechette Markley will dive deep into how we prepare our patients for these real-world challenges - using movement itself as medicine.

20/10/2025

20/10/2025