Clinical Anatomy, Mobilisation and Imaging of the Equine Back

An objective assessment of back pain or functional deficit and the diagnosis of the cause of the pain or restricted motion is difficult in horses. Therefore, clinical criteria based on well established and objective knowledge are essential to limit the subjectivity of the clinical evaluation of horses suspected to have back problems.

1- Physical examination
The physical appearance of the back may be altered by functional deficits and vice versa.

Descriptive anatomy provides the basic knowledge for identifying abnormal physical manifestations involving the vertebral curvatures and muscle development.

Deviations in the sagittal plane include kyphosis (dorsal convexity) and lordosis (ventral convexity). In horses, kyphosis is usually (but not always) seen in the lumbar spine whereas lordosis is usually seen in the thoracic area or extended to include the complete thoracolumbar area. These deviations can be observed in horses competing or racing normally. Scoliosis is an association between lateroflexion and rotation. It is usually seen in the middle and caudal thoracic areas and associated with malformation of the vertebral bodies, articular processes, spinous processes and ribs. In the vertebral column, lateroflexion in one direction is always associated with rotation of the same segment on the opposite side. Therefore, as the spinous processes are always bent in the concavity of the vertebral axis deviation, the real deformation of the vertebral bodies is underestimated when malalignment of the spinous processes is identified during physical examination.  [...]