10/18/2021
The equine spine and why bone alignment is not enough.
It’s been a while since I have posted but when things keep coming up, I feel I need to make a point of expanding peoples awareness.
Some of my clients use the services of a chiropractor in intervals with my services. what I am finding though on a regular basis regardless of whether they use a chiropractor or not , is that skeletal alignment is not enough to give the horse full release and freedom of motion.
We must remember that bones are slaves to soft tissue. Therefore by only aligning the bones we are not addressing all the fascial restriction and soft tissue adhesions that might be happening.
I am finding more and more that many spinal misalignment both soft tissue and Osseous ( boney ) can be released through addressing the Dural Tube, the nervous system and the spinal nerve roots.
What is the Dural Tube? The Dural Tube it the outer most membrane surrounding the spinal cord .
The Dura is elastic, it protects the spinal cord and allows it to move within the spine. It allowed the nerve roots to move freely out of the spinal cord into the muscles and organs.
When the horses back becomes compromised in any way ,so will the Dural Tube.
There are pairs of spinal nerves that leave on either side from each vertebrae. Theses nerves innervate muscles and organs and returne sensory information from the body.
These nerves can become compressed or over stimulated as a result of the spine and sorounding tissue being compromised .
When we call the chiropractor they address the spine the do a form of neurological reset but don’t always address the dysfunction from soft tissue and organs that caused the misalignment.
What does this mean? It means that even though the spine is now “straight”we have not addressed the nerve root or the tension that’s pulling them inside the spinal cord . Meaning that the bones will most likely return to a similar misaligned pattern as before chiropractic treatment in a relatively short amount of time. That means that muscle or organ function might still be compromised even though the spine is aligned.
So what to do ? Treat the Dural Tube the nerve roots and the spine and the fascia.
I have included little visual help . As you can see the Dural Tube stars in the cranial vault and continues through the occiput at the foramen magnum.
It ends at the second Sacral vertebrae .
How Many horses are permanently restricted at the poll even after treatment ?
I’ll add as usual for those sticklers of anatomy that this post is not comprehensive in its information . The point is to draw awareness and better Understanding of our equine partners.
Most important at the end is if you can only get chiropractic help for your horse, please keep doing it!
