The Effect of Chiropractic Treatment on Limb Lameness and Concurrent Axial Skeleton Pain and Dysfunction in Horses.
Authors: Maldonado Mikaela D, Parkinson Samantha D, Story Melinda R, Haussler Kevin K
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
Chiropractic manipulation is widely used in equine practice for managing back pain, yet robust evidence supporting its efficacy in treating lameness remains scarce. Researchers conducted a blinded, controlled clinical trial on two populations—polo horses with multilimb lameness and Quarter Horses with isolated hind limb lameness—assessing subjective and objective lameness measures alongside spinal pain, stiffness, epaxial muscle hypertonicity, and mechanical nociceptive thresholds at baseline, day 14, and day 28, with treatment applied on days 0, 7, 14, and 21. Whilst chiropractic treatment demonstrated statistically significant improvements in subjective measures of hind limb and whole-body lameness scores and vertebral stiffness, objective gait analysis and other markers of axial skeleton dysfunction showed limited or inconsistent responses to intervention. The authors acknowledge that the absence of specific pathoanatomical diagnoses, the inclusion of horses with multilimb lameness (which often reflects multiple underlying conditions), and reliance on outcome measures lacking independent validation likely compromised their ability to detect true treatment effects. For practitioners, these findings suggest that subjective clinical improvement in stiffness and perceived lameness may occur with chiropractic care, but objective evidence of gait normalisation and resolution of underlying spinal pathology remains inconclusive—emphasising the need for integration with diagnostic imaging and complementary therapeutic approaches rather than standalone treatment of lameness cases.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Chiropractic care may help subjectively perceived hind limb lameness and stiffness, but objective improvements are inconsistent—consider it as adjunctive rather than primary treatment for lameness
- •Results suggest chiropractic treatment may have stronger effects on axial skeleton stiffness than on actual limb lameness; accurate diagnosis of underlying pathology is critical for treatment decisions
- •This trial highlights the need for better outcome measures and clearer pathoanatomical diagnoses when evaluating chiropractic treatment in equine practice
Key Findings
- •Chiropractic treatment produced significant improvements in subjective measures of hind limb and whole-body lameness scores and vertebral stiffness
- •Objective lameness scores and other measures of axial skeleton pain showed limited or inconsistent therapeutic effects
- •Treatment was applied on days 0, 7, 14, and 21 with outcome measures collected at days 0, 14, and 28
- •Lack of pathoanatomical diagnoses and multilimb lameness complicated interpretation of results