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Caffrey is a 13 year old Connemara gelding. Eight years
ago Caffrey was diagnosed with Osteolysis of the pedal
bone. After corrective shoeing, he became sound, although
he could not be ridden on hard ground as the lameness
returned.
Three years ago Caffrey received a kick to his right
hock. Scans showed a small area of either calcified
tendon or a small bone chip around the hock. It was
then noticed that when being schooled Caffrey could
only strike off into canter on one rein and struggled
to maintain a circle. He could no longer form a correct
outline. His intermittent lameness returned more frequently
and standing for shoeing caused him pain.
On initial examination he was found to be unable to
bring his right hind underneath him, as his pelvis was
dropping on the right. He had a side bending left through
his lumbar spine, this indicated that he would be able
to canter freely on the left and be stiff on the right.
He had a side bending right through his cervical spine.
He also had restrictions bilaterally at the poll and
he was very tight through his right shoulder area.
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Due to the problems above Caffrey was unable
to work into an outline as he could not
bring his hindquarters underneath to power himself along.
This made him very much on
the forehand which then put more pressure through his
right fore which increased his
lameness. Due to the restrictions at the poll he was also
unable to come on to the bit.
On the initial treatment work was carried out to improve
the function in his spine and
especially in his neck and at the poll. This significantly
improved his ability to move
and his lameness reduced. On the second treatment his
pelvis was adjusted. This
again made an overall improvement for Caffrey.
He is now able to stand quietly for
the farrier, and his lameness only occurs on very hard
ground. He is now starting to
be schooled again, starting from basics to build muscle
tone etc. His rider encourages
him to use his hindquarters which over time wil bring
him into an outline.
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An 8 year old Jack Russell x Chihuahua presented with
stiffness in his hindquarters and an inability to sit
correctly (He crouched rather than sat). He also showed
some tenderness when stroking his hindquarters.
On examination it was noticed that his hind quarters
were much weaker than his front and he had less muscle
tone.
There was marked stiffness in his lumbar spine and both
Sacroiliac joints (The joints between the sacrum and
the Pelvis.).
He had increased tone in his hamstring muscles bilaterally.
This dog was treated very holistically to integrate
his spinal movements and improve co-ordination.
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Stretches and soft tissue work was carried
out on his hamstrings and
spinal muscles. Articulation was used for his lumbar spine
and sacroiliac joints.
After the treatment the dog was moving much freer than
previously and the owners
commented that there was no longer any tenderness when
they stroked his
hindquarters.
The dog still preferred to crouch rather than sit, but
if his legs were positioned for him, he could sit correctly
with out pain or discomfort. It was advised that as
the dog was no longer in discomfort, he preferred to
crouch rather than sit as that was what he was used
to doing.
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Case History 1
