To find out more about the International Association of Veterinary Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy, and to sign up for the 2024 conference in Cape Town, click here.
Title: Biomechanical motion analysis in horses during orthopaedic rehabilitation
Presenter: Dr Maria Terese Engell (NO)
Therese is a specialist in equine and human biomechanics. Her PhD research interest grew from recognising that riders would report difficulties in equestrian movements one way compared to the other. Although this can be due to concerns with the horse, she noticed many cases where things fell to pieces once the rider got on board. Therefore, she wanted to understand more about the horse / rider combination.
Orthopaedic injury is one of the most common causes of horses finishing their competitive career. Early detection and proper rehabilitation is the key, as is working with a team. We have poor agreement between vets on lameness assessments, including not even agreeing on which leg is the lame leg. This is at least partly because there are limits to our ability to see. We need objective tools (i.e. machines, equipment, etc) rather than just using our eyes, in relation to recognising and diagnosing lameness. The most time effective and cost-effective system for now is the inertial measurement unit (IMU). These are generally used by vets, not by horse owners. Therese has been involved in developing a vet-led AI system which owners can use on their phone similarly to the IMUs (SLEIP AI, www.sleip.com).
Sometimes, the baseline for an individual horse may be asymmetrical, and it’s important to realise that might be what works for that horse. It can be difficult to recognise these small asymmetries by eye, but we can use the app to help understand them.
This system could be used by the owner, the physio, and others on the horse’s team, to keep the vet (and each other) up to date with how the rehabilitation program is progressing. It means that a team member who follows the horse through the season can be kept up to date with how he is moving, and that adjustments to a rehabilitation program can be made in a timely fashion.
Riders can make horses more lame and more sound. Some are lame in hand and sound with a rider, and some are sound in hand and lame with a rider. The presence of lameness may be related to the rider’s skill level.
In other sports, biomechanics for the human has played a strong part in performance for many years. In equestrianism, because the horse can adapt to and adjust for the rider, the rider can get away with less optimal biomechanics. Therese’s team uses specific exercises and technology to enable the rider to relearn their biomechanics.
To find out more about the International Association of Veterinary Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy, and to sign up for the 2024 conference in Cape Town, click here.
Keep an eye out for my next book, ‘Recognising Pain in Ridden Horses: Performance, Partnership and Potential’, co-authored with Dr Sue Dyson, published by J A Allen, due 2023. Sign up at www.recognisingpaininriddenhorses.co.uk to be kept up to date with new information as it comes available. Watch a FREE 30-minute documentary on recognising pain in ridden horses here.
Here’s a FREE 30-minute presentation by Sue Palmer on how to recognise pain in your horse.
Other books by Sue Palmer M.Sc. MCSP:
‘Horse Massage for Horse Owners’
‘Understanding Horse Performance: Brain, Pain or Training?’
© Sue Palmer, The Horse Physio, 2022
