Original ResearchThermography and ultrasonography in back pain diagnosis of equine athletes
Introduction
The elevated incidence of back problems, difficulty of diagnosis, and importance of this anatomic region in locomotion of the equine species justify investigations in this area, principally those directed at improved quality in diagnosis and consequent therapeutic innovation.
Currently, a growing number of horses are purchased and trained for participation in equestrian sports in Brazil, especially the western sports engaged in by the Quarter Horse. These horses compete in reining, cutting, team roping, and barrel racing events, in which demands for exercises at high speeds and abrupt stops or changes in direction are observed and considered unique in the equestrian athletic world. These demands generate a constant challenge to the musculoskeletal system, often passing the physiologic limits of these horses, with consequent compromise to the health of the locomotor system, in such a manner that the incidence of certain lesions for specific sports is clear, although back pain is observed in all western modalities.1 Diagnosis of the source of equine lameness is often difficult, principally in cases in which the pain is located in the proximal hind limbs and is not related to synovial structures.2, 3 Back pain is included in this category of lesions. Lumbar pain, whether of primary or secondary origin, is an important cause of the loss of performance in equine athletes.4, 5 Therefore, diagnosis of both the location of lesions and their magnitude, in terms of pain, is difficult, because frequently the most evident clinical sign is not the pain itself, but the loss of performance.6, 7
We believe that scientific and technological advances in the diagnosis of back problems are essential to enable horses to express their maximum athletic potential, whether in western sports or in many other equestrian sporting modalities. Increased development in thermography and ultrasonography as complementary diagnosis methods has been observed worldwide by means of the numerous papers published in the last few years.8, 9 In Brazil, notable interest in the use of thermogram and ultrasonogram in the diagnosis of lameness has been observed, though controlled studies relating thermographic and ultrasonographic images to clinical findings in cases of lumbar pain do not exist.
Thus, the objectives of the current study were to evaluate the efficacy of thermogram and ultrasonogram in the diagnosis of thoracolumbar lesions in Quarter Horse athletes and to associate the different types of lesions found with the athletic modalities practiced: cutting, reining, and barrel racing.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
Twenty-four Quarter Horses were used, aged between 4 and 8 years, of both sexes (11 male and 13 female) and all active athletes. The horses were admitted to the Surgery Service for Large Animals of the Veterinary and Animal Science Faculty of the São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu Campus in Brazil, with complaints of back pain, during the period April 2004 to May 2005. These horses competed in three sporting modalities within western categories: reining (4 animals), cutting (9
Results
In all horses, presence of thoracolumbar pain was confirmed by means of the physical examination performed. The degree and type of pain response and mobility alterations varied between horses, whereas more than one response could be found in a single horse.
Only three horses presented lameness, and in all cases the diagnosis of back pain preceded that of lameness. Alterations were observed in movement, principally in the circle gallop examination, where diminished dorsoventral mobility and
Discussion
Determining the exact location of the lesion and the cause of pain using physical examination only was not possible, although the pain could be determined as originating from the thoracic or lumbar region,2, 11 using as a base the horse's response to epaxial structure palpation, the mobilization examinations, and inspection at work.
The best gait for examining the movement of the vertebral column was the gallop, where the horse's neck assumes different positions.11, 14 Among these antalgic
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