Anyone have their horse’s back injected for kissing spines and horse is worse.
My gelding’s been injected for arthritis in his spine 2 or 3 times (once a year)–they really helped. Last set of injections, vet said they were hard to get in and suspects kissing spines is starting, so this year he had shock wave therapy instead.
DinkyDonk, thanks for replying. My horse’s thoracic spine from base of withers to lumbar spine is rubbing together causing inflammation and bone remodeling. He doesn’t want to canter, but his trot work is good, and he is not dangerous to ride, yet. I was just hoping to give him some relief with P Block and steroid injections. He was going real good, before injections, but he was getting bute. Now he goes horrible, stiff, rigid, flat, with jarring trot. He never went like this until after the injections 3 weeks ago. Vet has no clue. Just wondering if anyone out there has had similar results with their horse.
I don’t have any direct experience with kissing spine injections but just sharing something from my vet. My horse had arthritis in his hocks and we decided to inject them. Before my vet would do the injections she insisted on doing a Lyme disease panel (the one through Cornell) Our area has a lot of Lyme disease and she said that they’ve seen negative reactions when injecting a steroid into a horse’s joints who has Lyme, that they got worse. Wouldn’t you know it my horse has one of the highest levels they had ever seen. We treated the Lyme, then after his levels went down did the hock injections with no issues and he showed improvement.
That is interesting, and what part of the country do you live in?
My gelding is sore in the exact same spot. Have you tried belly lifts to get him/her to lift his spine and open up some space?
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I do all of that and much more, and that stuff helps a little, but not enough. I ride him with his head a little lower than I want, and round, and ask him to soften often, and he goes good in that type of frame, because it opens his back up, but now since the injections nothing I do helps him.
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it might be more related to the layup – IME injections of the back are usually followed by one or two weeks of stall rest. that makes a huge difference for chronically sore horses.
if my KS horse is on stall rest for any length of time he gets dramatically more sore, because stalling and decreased movement means decreased circulation, more inflammation.
KS presents some management difficulties - they need as much movement and time out of the stall as possible to be 100%.
is your horse not a bone-shave candidate?
while not without risk of side-effects which should be heavily researched, i have heard good things about OSPHOS for horses with KS that is inoperable.
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No lay up, because like you said it is better for them to move around. I didn’t ride him for a week. OSPHOS is not worth the risk, and would only help the bone remodeling. He may have too many for the bone shave. I know he has too many for the lig snip. The bone shave is a big lay up, and I don’t think I could stand it, even if the horse could.
We thought my horse had kissing spines due to bucking after saddling/while mounting this spring. Physical work-up showed no problems, just psychological (consistent with this horse). He stopped bucking after 2-3 weeks. I think it was in part due to his decision that he didn’t like weight to linger when mounted/twist the saddle on his withers, and considered himself retired. Ummmm no. He’s been mounted for 6 years. He’s mounted now with no problems…???
My vet showed me her radiographs of her mare with kissing spines to contrast. Injections worked for her mare for a while, and she retired this fairly young performance mare to breeding, I’m not sure how hereditary this condition is.
My friend uses shockwave. It was a game changer. 3 or 4 times a year. She found it more effective for his comfort than injections.
I too haven’t had much luck with injections. Shockwave definitely provides much more relief for my horse.
Looking at the x-rays you can see there is no way to get the needle between the spinous processes, but my vet said meds will difuse, spread around, the spines and will get between them. It is not as good, but should give some relief. It ain’t happening to my horse. I guess I will have to try the shock wave and see how that does.
Injections didn’t help mine. I can’t say they made him worse but definitely no better.
When we are talking injections - what kind – and what was the severity for those who injected?
Mine has been injected multiple times about a year or lil more apart and always better never worse. They can get muscle sore from just using muscles they have not before but this should be minor and manageable.
My horse was just diagnosed with kissing spine …we gave him Osphos and plan on trying shockwave in the spring
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I am going to expand on my first question. Has anyone ever had or heard of a horse going really bad after a sarapin block of the thoracic spine? It is now more than 3 weeks since my horse was injected and he really goes horrible.
It seems to me that injecting the area may give pain relief, but won’t fix the underlying structural problem. Have you thought about doing the ligament snip surgery (AKA Interspinous Ligament Desmotomy.) That would allow the affected vertebrae to separate and would avoid future calcification.
Vets say they can’t do the lig snip, because he has too many, and that is what I have read in several places. All I know is that he was going so good before the injections, just walk and trot, with plenty of lateral work, but now he just stabs along pulling his head down.
