The cause and resolution of back pain from horse riding

As I read around all the extraordinary stories about how chiropractic care is resolving back pain for people around the world, I’ve been discovering that even dogs and horses can benefit from chiropractic care. (McTimoney method)

Which got me thinking – horseriding can be low impact, but with a canter or gallop, it can become a high impact experience. What does this mean for the rider’s spinal health?

It turns out that vertebral misalignments can occur even when riding at a walk. As the horse and rider move, weight is constantly being transferred from buttocks to legs, putting repetitive stress on the spine. Naturally enough, this repetitive stress increases when the horse is at a trot, canter or gallop.

Riders aren’t always as balanced as you might suppose either. Just as when we cycle, it is easy to slip into a habit of favouring one leg more than the other. The nasty side effect of this error is that more weight is put on that side’s sacro-iliac joint (we’ve got two of these; on top of the buttocks on either side of the spine).

The pressure on your sacro-iliac joint caused by a constantly shifting pelvis can become painful. It can also cause your pelvis to move out of alignment and then one leg appears shorter than the other. Not surprisingly, leg length inequality can lead to further complications.

With a misaligned pelvis causing a short leg, the body attempts to compensate by expanding the muscles on that leg. Sooner or later that sacro-iliac joint becomes inflamed and painful with sciatica symptoms of pain that can at times be localised and sharp or radiating at points up and down the leg. Numbness and tingling is typical too.

While the problem may have begun with the sacro-iliac joints months before, it is often the sciatic pain that sends people to doctors, painkillers, consultants and even surgery. Ideally, they should include a visit to a spinal specialist or chiropractor too.

It can take months to get an x-ray through GP consultations. Meanwhile, a good chiropractor or spinal specialist, like Dr Christian Farthing at BodyWell Group, will take a full case history and conduct a diagnostic exam (including standing or sitting x-rays) in the first visit. Having identified vertebral misalignments (subluxations) in the first visit, spinal adjustments can be made straightaway. Even after just one appointment, the impact of the treatment can evident – with instant pain relief and improved mobility.

The frequency of further spinal adjustments will be determined by the level and type of pain. To ensure the body maintains its momentum in correcting its imbalances and restoring even strength to the supporting muscles you might anticipate monthly or fortnightly adjustments to keep spinal joints mobile and in correct alignment.