| Accupressure: A tool to diagnose hind leg lameness? Posted: 04 May 2010 04:47 PM PDT Remember my friend who has a horse with a sudden onset hind leg lameness? We've been researching how to differentiate hock, hip, and stifle pain, and most of what we've read indicates it's hard to do from just a lameness evaluation. I did find this -- I can neither confirm nor deny it's usefulness, but it's an interesting idea... Using accupressure to diagnose hind leg lameness  - Take a soft ended pen and find the depression right behind the ear on the neck. This is the BL 10 acupunture point. Hold you horse loosely so he can respond freely. Move the pen back and forth across the point. Does the horse twist his head sideways? This indicates there is hip/hock or stifle pain in the OPPOSITE side rear end.
- To isolate the pain further, find another acupuncture point (GB28) -- 1 inch above the point of the hip. Move the pen front to back around that point. If he flinches, it's hip or hock pain.
- To separate hip from hock pain, find the head of the thighbone and circle it with your pen. If he reacts it's a indication to look at the hip.
- Now find BL36, B37, and BL 38. Take the pen and run it very quickly down this line -- the vertical groove between hamstring muscles, If he reacts in the top part (BL36) it's a hip; if he reacts in the middle part (BL37) it's a stifle. If he reacts in the lower end (BL38) it's a hock.
- To isolate stifle pain, run the pen back and forth under the hip bone (ST26) and see if you find a reaction. Another place to confirm stifle pain is the point (BL21) behind the last rib along the bladder meridian (which is about 8" below the backbone). Check for soreness there.
- To isolate lower back pain, run the pen from the top of groove between hamstrings to the top of his rump looking for a reaction. Run the pen right besdie the spine from his tail to the top of his rump, and if you get a reaction there, its nerve pain similar to sciatica in humans.
These instructions are from the " barrel horse world" listserv...  |
0 comments:
Post a Comment