PPE of the Back When to Back Off

Introduction
Back-pain is a common cause of performance problems in horses and impingement of the thoracic dorsal spinous processes (DSP’s) is the most common named cause for back pain in the thoracolumbar region, mostly present between the 14th thoracic and 2nd lumbar vertebrae.1,2,3,4.5.6 For these reasons radiographic examination of the dorsal spinous processes are increasingly included in prepurchase examinations.7,8,9

Imaging techniques have significantly improved over the last decade, however the investigation and diagnosis of back pain remains a challenge. The relevance of the radiographic changes is difficult to interpret due to previously described poor correlation between radiological findings and clinical signs.3,10 […]