Chiropracter vs. Deep Tissue Massage (video)?

[jumpxit]

This is kinda long, sorry, but I feel the need to get all the details in.

I have a 6 year old TB mare (never raced) that I've had since the beginning of April. She came to me skinny, sore, and with feet about an inch long (barefoot and chipping). I had a prepurchase vet exam and she said with her feet so sore, it was hard to tell exactly where soreness was coming from, but said her hind end was definitely a little wacky. Her final statement in the bill was "Sore front feet but sound in the front otherwise, lame in the hind left, right hind tracking off, and sore back". Of course those are not the exact words, but in a nutshell. My vet said it was about a 75% chance that the soreness in the hind and back was due to lack of conditioning and that it would go away with work at flexion. I took a chance on the mare anyway and purchased her after the week trial. She came to me VERY green, so teaching her to bend was challenging enough, but now we've got it down and we've been lunging in sidereins as directed by my vet to help strengthen her back. A week after I purchased her, the previous owners told me about an accident she'd had a couple months before. She had tried to jump a wire fence on an incline, got her front end over but not her hind so she was straddling this fence, pushed off the ground with her front and went back over to the other side, but in the process she somehow got the wire caught inbetween her hoof and shoe in the left hind. She yanked continuously (I think this is where the injury is from) until she finally collapsed and landed on her left hip. Good thing they told me this right after my prepurchase, right?
The second week in July I had the vet return for a follow up. She said she's a completely different horse in the front (feet are very near close to perfect she said), and now that she's moving great in the front, the real problem in the hind is showing. It's a torn muscle in the stifle and my mare is "protecting" it by holding her back different and moving differently entirely in the hind, kind of like how a person's spine would be affected by one leg being shorter than the other. She did a flexion in my mare's left hind where the injury is, and my mare trotted off perfectly. Did the flexion in the right hind and then she dragged her left hind. The vet said she HAS improved and expects a full recovery within a year. Fine by me.
So here's my question: A chiropractor is coming out on Saturday to work on a post-trauma horse (the owner is an equine vet), and I thought my mare might benefit from having some work done. After making the appointment, I found out the chiro will not do massages, which I think would be great for her stifle area. I can not afford to do both (I'm moving her to another ranch on the first which is going to cost me a bundle!), so I'm reconsidering the chiro. Which do you think would benefit her the most? I'm only asking on here while I wait for my vet to return my email, which could take years if you know what I mean, and I only have about 24 hours to decide.
Here's a video of us the beginning of last month. The video was of the entire ride: warm up and cool down- I keep my rides short since we're in training. I ride like this about once a week and the rest of the time we hack bareback or just work on lunging. I was kicked about 3 weeks ago, so mostly we've just been hanging out and playing.

Watch how her left hind is a little stiff.

 

[Lil Homie]

MASSAGE THERAPY

Reason I say this is because I have had several clients who's horses had issues where they benefitted 100% from massage therapy vs chiro.

A chiro works the bones, so to speak....a massage therapist does a deep tissue massage that gets rid of scar tissue, loosens up the connective tissues between the bone and the muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc....for maximum effect.

Contrary to popular belief....it's not "just" a massage. There's a lot more to it than that.

Also, the massage therapist that worked on my clients' horses also was given a horse that was started too young and too hard for dressage and it was broken down in the hind quarters. The horse couldn't raise its back feet. So, the owner gave the horse away to the massage therapist. Within a year's time, she had that horse limbered up and is now training him for eventing.

 

[foxhunter1949]

Which comes first - the chicken or the egg?
Both are obviously very beneficial if done correctly and there are good an bad of both chiropractors and masseuses.

I think that if you get the structure right then the muscles will build up but, unless muscle memory is changed it can pull the structure out again - which is why most chiropractors need to readjust more than once.
A deep massage might alter the muscle memory and allow adjustments to occur on their own but it is doubtful so, I would go for the chiropractor.

When I do chiro work I use Applied Kinesiology through a second person, this allows for an exact diagnosis of where the horse is misaligned and also diagnoses which way it has twisted so allows for more accurate realignment and alteration of the muscle memory.
The fact that the horse is wrong behind leads me to believe that she will also be misaligned in the diagonal shoulder.
If you mail me <[email protected]> I will send you a series of checks you can do which will tell you how misaligned your horse is.

 

[Greg B]

Although both sound good, if you must choose, I would go with the chiropractic treatment. If her back is out and needs to be adjusted, then the muscles will get some relief just from not having to compensate for a wacky back.

The deep tissue massage may bring more pain relief in the short term, but if the back is still out, the muscles will eventually just go back to their pretreatment state.

 

[AmericanMadeMorgans]

I agree with GregB! Do the Chiropractor first. I have used them before & they are great! Mine saved on of my old mares from being put down. My vet sid to put her down bla bla bla, well I called my Chiro first. He put her in line & she lived for almost another 3yrs. She sounds to be out of place which makes he walk/trot/lope/stand off. She is compensating for her being off which is throwing her whole body off.

 

[Hannah]

Well a massage isn't going to help as much with a torn muscle.Its best to leave that be and let nature heal it. I definitely think you should get the chiropractor because that will help heal the horses back faster. While a massage will only temporarily relieve the pain. You look pretty good considering everything thats happening. Cute horsey!

 

[ZenSpaDT]

Deep tissue massage is a type of massage therapy that focuses on realigning deeper layers of muscles and connective tissue. For chiropractors use manual therapy including spinal adjustments and soft-tissue manipulation as well as prescription of exercises and lifestyle counseling to treat a wide range of health problems.

 

[Brownie]

I agree with greg