Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Hospital Clínico Veterinario, Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio, Avenida de la Universidad s/n, Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain.
Veterinary School, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio. Avenida de la Universidad s/n. Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain.
J Equine Vet Sci. 2022 Jun;113:103934. doi: 10.1016/j.jevs.2022.103934. Epub 2022 Mar 18.
Equine back pain can potentially initiate an unstable intervertebral situation that results in atrophy and dysfunction of the epaxial muscles even after back pain has resolved. Several physiotherapy approaches are advocated to promote the strengthening of the multifidus muscle. This study aimed to asses and compare the effect of dynamic mobilization exercises (DME) and neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) in 8 adult horses (4 individuals by group) to increase the cross-sectional area (CSA) of this muscle after a 7-weeks period treatment. The epaxial muscles of NMES group were electrical stimulated during 10 minutes per session, 4 days a week for 7 weeks, yielding a total of 28 sessions per individual. Horses included in DME group were trained to move the chin to a specific position (three different cervical flexions, one cervical extension and three different lateral bending exercises) to the left and right sides, repeated 5 times per session, completing 28 sessions. Ultrasonographic images of the left and right multifidus muscle were acquired at 3 different spinal locations (T12, T16 and L2) at the initial and the end of the experiment. Significant increases (P < .050) in its CSA were obtained at all levels considered (except at T16), consistent with a 18.65% and 13.41% increase after NMES and DME, respectively. These results suggest that a 7-week period of DME or NMES treatments are useful to increase the CSA of the multifidus muscle in horses, and hence, these two therapies could be combined during a back-rehabilitation program to improve the spine stabilization in horses.
马的背痛可能会导致不稳定的椎间情况，即使背痛已经缓解，也会导致脊柱旁肌肉的萎缩和功能障碍。有几种物理治疗方法被提倡用于促进多裂肌的强化。本研究旨在评估和比较动态动员运动（DME）和神经肌肉电刺激（NMES）在 8 匹成年马（每组 4 匹马）中的效果，以增加该肌肉的横截面积（CSA）在 7 周的治疗后。NMES 组的脊柱旁肌肉在每次 10 分钟的治疗中接受电刺激，每周 4 天，共 7 周，每个个体共 28 次。DME 组的马匹被训练将下巴移动到特定位置（三个不同的颈椎前屈、一个颈椎伸展和三个不同的侧屈运动）到左侧和右侧，每次重复 5 次，共完成 28 次。在实验开始和结束时，在 3 个不同的脊柱位置（T12、T16 和 L2）采集了左、右多裂肌的超声图像。在所有考虑的水平（T16 除外）都获得了 CSA 的显著增加（P <.050），NMES 和 DME 后分别增加了 18.65%和 13.41%。这些结果表明，7 周的 DME 或 NMES 治疗可有效增加马多裂肌的 CSA，因此，这两种治疗方法可在背部康复计划中联合使用，以改善马的脊柱稳定性。
