THOSE TINY LITTLE MUSCLES OF THE BACK
There are tiny little muscles within your spine as well as your horse, these muscles are named the Multifidus Muscle group. The Multifidi as they are called in the pleural sense have a huge impact on posture and conformation not to mention are often the culprits in low back pain.
The job of these muscles is to regulate spinal movement and supply the brain with feedback on where and how the body is moving. Power supply to these muscles comes from the spinal nerves. Multifidi are located between every spinal bone [vertebrae].
There is a rich supply of nerves that control these muscles as well as an abundance of nerves that leave this muscle and enter the spinal cord with eventual hook ups to the brain.
When your body or your horse is undergoing a stressful situation such as extreme temperature changes, a hard workout or even a workout that you and your horse have not warmed up fully for, a vertebral subluxation complex [ spinal bones not moving and short circuiting nerves} can occur. This subluxation complex will cause the Multifidi to go into contracture and further prevent the spinal bones from moving. The nerve input from the Mutltifidi will in turn change nerve output from the brain to other muscles and thus cause compensation.
Your first response may be to massage these muscles, well that is not possible since they are very deep from the skin surface and you cannot feel them. Stretches alone will not work since many stretches cannot isolate these muscles. Injecting the muscle to get it to relax will alleviate the pain but will not correct the subluxation and nerve short circuit, thus once the drug wears off the muscle gets tight again. The best approach is to have your Equine Chiropractor evaluate your horse since the cause of the muscle issue maybe coming from another part of the spine. Once the chiropractor adjusts your horse and does some myofascial work on the muscles then stretches along with specific exercises will be done to strengthen the spine and help prevent a re-occurrence.
The result will be a happy owner and horse.
