08/10/2025
This was a thoroughbred who was brought into the clinic a couple of weeks ago, who wasn’t working as well as he usually did and also had a ‘sore back’ on palpation. It was decided to radiograph his spine to check for Impinging Dorsal Spinous Processes (DSP’s) otherwise known as ‘Kissing Spines’ and there was evidence of these on X-ray (where we see the DSP’s are close/touching and there is bony remodelling).
Sometimes these findings are incidental , so to determine whether clinically significant we can ‘block’ their back where we inject local anaesthetic to numb the area and assess for improvement.
Treatment options include medication with steroids as show in the video here or a more permanent solution can be surgery to remove sections of bone from the DSP’s.
This horse was medicated and is reported to be much more comfortable after only a couple of weeks so hopefully he will be able to continue with his work after his rehab.