Everything Horse magazine Everything Horse UK Magazine, November 2014 | Page 40

HEALTH: MCTIMONEY SPECIAL

Why use a

McTimoney Spinal
Manipulation Practitioner

for your horse?

A

A popular saying among soft tissue specialists is, “the muscles hold the bones
together, you don’t need to adjust the bones, it doesn’t release the muscles”.
This common misconception stems from a misunderstanding about how spinal
manipulation actually works. It does release the deep postural muscles as I will
explain.

s a side note, the bones are
held together by ligaments,
the muscles attach via tendons
and create the power to move
the joints, rather than physically holding
them together in the majority of cases.
Releasing the muscles through soft tissue
techniques doesn’t automatically bring the
spine and joints back into alignment and so
the same restrictions can crop up over and
over again.
I started out as an equine sports massage
therapist and got great results, the horses
were happy, my clients were happy, but
there was something I felt was missing
from my practice. After training as a
McTimoney Animal Practitioner, I am now
of the opinion that to truly rehabilitate
the body back to full function and prevent
further injury occurring, the release of
all joints and soft tissues must first take
place. This allows functional full range
of motion before rehabilitation can occur
with the use of exercise, stretching etc.
As someone who suffers from back pain
due to a spinal injury, I know first-hand
how painful stretching and mobilisation
can be if muscles are tight and the body

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has not been brought into alignment first.
Symmetrical muscle building occurs more
quickly, and is more effective, once all
spasms, tension and restrictions through
the joints have been removed.
The muscles that are affected directly by
spinal manipulation lay deep within the
back and neck. These muscles control
posture and stabilise the spine, they are
always firing, so restriction and dysfunction
of these muscles causes pain during
everyday tasks and ridden activities for the
horse.
The most important muscles are called the
multifidus, which sits directly next to and
around the spine. It is composed of two
sections, one which runs from the pelvis to
the base of the neck and the second part
which runs the length of the neck.
The psoas is another important muscle

which sits inside the pelvis, attaching to
the underside of the lumbar spine and to
the top of the femur. It is often implicated
in recurrent low back pain, and forms an
important part of the horses core muscles,
it needs to function correctly for the horse
to be able to work without pain and with
correct biomechanics.
Using ultrasound scanning, researchers
have found that spinal manipulation does
release the deep multifidus muscle. Spasm
of this muscle causes a decrease in the
cross sectional depth of the muscle, after
spinal manipulation the cross section
measurement was increased, showing that
manipulation of the spine causes release
of muscle spasm in the deep postural
muscles. In human patients the muscle
spasms were found at the point that pain
was felt, which was reported to have been
relieved by spinal manipulation.

The McTimoney technique uses high speed
movements to cause a joint to regain its
full range of motion, this affects both
the muscles and the myofacia, which
is an important connective tissue that
wraps around all muscles, bones and
other structures within the body. The
practitioner uses reflexes within their
own muscles, which have been trained to
respond during certain movements of the
arms.

The process

After an initial assessment of the horse,
which includes questioning the owner or
rider, watching for gait abnormalities, and
checking that veterinary permission has
been granted, the treatment can begin.
When treating, the practitioner first feels
for spinal misalignments, by feeling each
side of the vertebrae. The tiny rotation
of the bones can occur either due to
tightening of the muscle attached to one
side of the bone, or by direct trauma to
the joints themselves, perhaps by getting
cast or slipping and falling in the field. To
release the tight muscle and realign the
vertebrae, the practitioner places pressure
on the bone to rotate it to its end of range
of movement without forcing it.
The McTimoney practitioner then uses a
quick movement at the speed of a nerve
reflex to “toggle” the bone and allow it to
bounce back. This activates the nerves
supplying the muscle which in turn releases
it, allowing the muscle to relax. The
stretch within the muscle and myofascia
during adjustment and the consequent
recoil of the bone causes relaxation of the
muscles surrounding and attached to the
bone. This “relaxing and releasing” stage
continues over time, and according to

Everything Horse UK Magazine • Issue 14 • November 2014

research I have conducted, can continue to
create positive changes for up to 2 weeks
after treatment.
The nerves, which leave the spine
by passing between the joints of the
vertebrae, are now free from restriction
to work at their optimum, the joints of the
spine are now free to rotate through their
full range of motion and muscles are now
able to work at their optimum.
The practitioner will systematically
move through the whole body making
adjustments as necessary. Once the whole
skeleton is realigned and the deep muscles
have been released, it is then that massage
or other techniques will be employed to
make sure all the superficial muscles are
released too.
Personally I use a combination of sports
massage, acupressure and myofascial
release which gives a truly whole body
treatment. I have found this approach
leads to the need for fewer treatments to
get the body to respond and stay in this
prime state, treatments can be spaced
further apart because it tends to hold
for longer, allowing the muscles to build
strength.
Combined with good riding practices,
a well-fitting saddle and further
rehabilitation exercises given as part of the
aftercare advice, the horse will begin to
even up and will be able to use itself much
more efficiently.
Horses that have strong muscles, good
proprioception, and are fit, are far less
likely to injure themselves. This is the
aim of the McTimoney practitioner, to
improve the horse, reduce the likelihood
of repeated injury and allow for a longer,

November 2014 • Issue 14 • Everything Horse UK M