CHIROPRACTIC CARE
CAN CHIROPRACTIC CARE REDUCE Pain and Stiffness in Limb Lameness?
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Although a new study found no significant
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changes in lameness scores after chiropractic care, there were significant changes in the severity of pain. Some locations also saw less muscle stiffness and hypertonicity. “Therefore, we concluded that chiropractic care may be beneficial for addressing compensatory pain that results from a primary lameness,” explained Samantha Parkinson, DVM, a veterinary resident at Colorado State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, who presented the data at the American Association of Equine Practitioners Annual Convention & Trade Show, which ran from Dec. 4–8, in Nashville, Tenn. Interest in chiropractic care for horses has been increasing. One of its advantages is that it “is affordable to the majority of our veterinary clients,” she said, but should it be recommended for lameness involving the limbs? Dr. Parkinson and her colleagues did a study to evaluate the effects of chiropractic care on limb lameness and concurrent axial skeleton pain and dysfunction. The interactions between the axial and appendicu-
Issue 12/2021 | ModernEquineVet.com
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lar skeleton are important to consider when trying to intervene in a horse with lameness. “When one leg is lame, there's altered weight-bearing to increase the weight on the other 3 limbs as the horse attempts to unload the painful leg,” she said, which results in changes throughout the axial and appendicular regions. Previous studies found that horses with primary limb lameness have back pain in 23% to 32% of cases; and horses with primary back pain have a concurrent limb lameness in 68% to 85% of cases. “This highlights the importance and the significance of these interactions and our need to be able to address them,” she said. “While we have evidence supporting the use of chiropractic for axial skeleton pain, we haven't to date looked at its effect on lameness,” she said. The goal of their study was to evaluate the efficacy of chiropractic care in reducing limb lameness and concurrent axial skeleton pain and disfunction. “We hypothesized that chiropractic treatment would improve measures of lameness, as well as our axial skeleton pain and dysfunction,” she said.
