Healing Chance - What is Health?

Healing Chance Equine Manual Therapy

Healthy Horse - What is Health?

The definition of health, according to Merriam Webster’s dictionary:

a: the condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit; especially: freedom from physical disease or pain

b: the general condition of the body

Health has been commonly described as “freedom from dis-ease,” which is a state of being comfort and naturalness. However, the

modern horse has come a long way from their free-roaming ancestors, which were able to wander an average of 30 miles a day,

freely foraging for beneficial herbs to overcome any possible ailments. Domesticated horses don’t have the same access to wild

plants and, many times, confinement and the tasks we ask them to perform can have harmful effects on their overall well being.

Many times, veterinary science diagnoses an injury or disease and, consequently, treats only the symptoms. What is not often

recognized is the root cause for why the disease or injury happened in the first place (unfortunate accidents do happen) and how to

bring the animal back to its original or improved state of being. For example, if a horse pulls a muscle, it can be prescribed anti-

inflammatory drugs, painkillers, and stall rest with some daily hand walking until symptoms of lameness are no longer evident. What

is not considered are the root causes and effects of the body as a whole—why did the muscle pull occur to begin with? The injury

may be a result of a dysfunction elsewhere in the body, resulting in the muscle strain as a byproduct of protecting the primary area of

discomfort or weakness. In effect, the pulled muscle may be the most obvious—but just one of many—symptoms.

Likewise, some of the known effects of stall rest are muscle wasting (atrophy), reduced fitness, stiffness, and emotional stress. After

some time, when the initial symptoms requiring the rest have disappeared and the individual comes back to the daily routine, if the

primary reason has not been addressed and the effects of stall rest minimized, the potential for re-injury and more severe damage is

very real. Holistic health is a natural approach to initiate the horse’s own healing process and promote the health of the whole body

and mind so that the healing is faster, more complete, and permanent than it would be if left unaided. In order to do this, remedies

such as Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT), massage, myofascial release, herbal supplements, homeopathic remedies, acupressure

and non-invasive technology can be used to accelerate the healing process while maintaining the muscle tone and flexibility, and to

keep the individual’s overall health and spirit from falling into serious setbacks.

I mentioned earlier about muscle wasting associated with stall rest; muscles are the body’s armor for the skeletal system, and when

muscles atrophy, the process leaves ligaments, joints and the skeletal system unprotected from possible strain and injury. When a

horse comes back to work after period of stall rest, it is typically weaker than before the injury—stiff and uncoordinated and, to make

matters worse, easily excitable. This can be a recipe for a disaster, and quite often I’ve seen horses re-injure themselves or develop

secondary injuries and dysfunctions as a result of coming back to work too quickly before the body had time to adjust . Another real

danger comes from the fact that the original area of injury may have weaker tissue and the re-injury can be more profound and more

difficult to rehabilitate.

Here is a great article regarding pain and some tell tale signs how to recognize that a horse might be experiencing discomfort:

Understanding Equine Pain

http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=2157

There is one important fact that I would like to point out since the article fails to mention it: because the horse today is a product of

millions of years of evolution, many natural behavior patterns are very deeply rooted even in our tamest backyard pets. One of the

many survival skills a horse has developed is masking the pain. Since lameness indicates weakness in the wilderness, which will

make a great target for a hungry predator, horses and other grazing animals may pretend that they don’t have a limp to the degree that

they actually do. It isn’t until the perceived danger departs that they take the pressure or weight off the injury and limp away. Horses

tend to exhibit this behavior even around humans, as well, and as long as they know we are watching (with our predator eyes,

perhaps keenly focused to see the origin of the lameness

)

. The lameness may be worse than it actually is once we turn our back on

them.

TheHorse.com

may require a registration but it’s free. They are a great resource for informational articles regarding nutritional,

medical, and training issues.

Eeva Patrakka ~ (503) 708-5518 ~ E-mail: Eeva@HealingChance.com

Home ~ Summary of Services ~ About Me ~ SCENAR ~ IMT ~ Massage ~ Myofascial Release ~
Infrared Heat Therapy~ Homeopathy ~ Gait Analysis ~ What is a Healthy Horse? ~ Bibliography ~ Links

Because health seems to be a singular state of well being, it is often is

easier to describe and give names to the symptoms of discomfort,

types of dysfunction, and degrees of pain rather than trying to give titles

to degrees of wellness, feelings of well-being, and freedom of

movement. However, my focus here is on health, and my intent is to

focus on healing rather than giving mental energy to sickness and the

symptoms manifested by such conditions. I consider health as the

optimum state of well-being allowing the horse freedom from mental

stress and physical discomfort and further enabling it to happily

perform to its greatest ability, providing a wholesome relationship with

its human partner. Health is a state of wholeness in which all aspects

and systems of the body function correctly and in harmony with the

internal and external environments. In other words, a healthy horse has

all systems, including respiratory, digestive, nervous, lymphatic,

musculature, and skeletal systems, operating optimally, free from

chronic stress and pain in everyday surroundings, whether they are

stabled or living outside, resting or exercising, or spending time with

humans or their animal partners.

Author's Note:

Consider yourself being confined to bed-rest or a bathroom size room for several weeks or even

months with occasional walks

around the building with a nurse. After being allowed to return to your

normal daily routine, it is hard to start playing sports or lifting

weights again for quite some time.

Now

imagine that you had a physical therapist to regularly massage and condition your body and

provide

assistance in healing the injury; can you see your return to normal life be faster and actual

healing of

the injury be more

complete?

Reducing the overall time that stall-rest is required and minimizing the

ill-effects that such

confinement has on horses are

some of the benefits physical therapy and

holistic care can offer.