Diagnosing shoulder problem

[rosie]

I recently posted as my horse was on bute and still lame, (she had a nasty abcess about 8 weeks ago and we originally thought another abcess was brewing.) Tried bute & box rest and bute and turnout and she was no different. Had vet on Tuesday and he said she is walking heel first, is sore on the turn both ways, but definitly lame (about 2/10) on the left fore. He was suspecting some sort of problem in the foot. He came back yesterday to nerve block and poss xray. He did 2 nerve blocks of the foot,so eventually the full foot was numb, but she was no different at all. He said there is nothing obvious to indicate a problem in the fetlock or knee, as no pain, heat or swelling. He then did some sort of flexion test on the shoulder, and when trotted after this, he said she was sort of swinging the leg out as if it was an effort to bring it forward in the trot. SO he then started to suspect something going on higher, possibly in the shoulder. He said it may be best to refer her to Leahurst now, for further investigations, he mentioned possibly a gamma scan. He was quite vague about what it might be, just said it could be various things. I also remembered that back in June, she had a fall on the road, as she was spooking at a bag and slipped and her feet went from under her. She did fall on her left side, but I cant say she fell on the shoulder as it was all over in a split second. At the time she had a couple of little scrapes, but there was nothing major and no lameness. Vet said it could be unrelated or could have something to do with it, if there have been bony changes since? has anyone else had any experience of shoulder problems?

[kizi]

Hi
Yes I have had shoulder problems but they were treated with physio/massage rather than vets. So not a huge help, but they came good..
One in particular shoulda like yours, it was that rotating after flexion, Osteo felt it was an injury from either too much road or too much lunge.. I don't know as pony was new to me, but I did know pony hated being lunged, would charge around, but was spooky and green on the road.. So I guessed over lunged. Osteo described the shoulder as being pushed up, causing discomfort and a mm shorter leg in effect as the muscles etc were tight, so lameness was not necessarily due to pain but to one leg seeming shorter..
Anyway, she had physio and a massage therapist, lots of stretching and walking in hand etc etc we had to essentially allow her get unfit, so muscles relaxed to heal and that pony (138) went on and is currently jumping 1.20 well and clear every time out, and gets regularly checked by the same Osteo.. So I had no reason to go vet route..
She was some pony! Miss her lots!!
Good luck.. Hope it's something easy fix!!

Oh, also when that pony came she was very over weight and weight management also played a big part in keeping her sound and fit. Not for a second suggesting yours is over weight, but with my pony who I later discovered was insulin resistant, it was a factor, not a cause, but an aggravator obviously with weight down on the limb.. Vicious circle! Can't work to lose weight.. !!!

[rosie]

Thanks for your reply. Mine has lost weight recently, she is a good doer cob. Probably a good thing for her to loose weight with her current problems. I dont lunge her , we were just happy hackers. I suppose the vet is trying to find exactly what the problem is before suggesting the physio/osteo route.

[orangetails]

The only shoulder-lameness I had had experience of actually originated in the opposite stifle... The vet said this was actually quite common, that lameness here could be felt in the diagonally opposite shoulder. Both to ride and to look at the horse looked absolutely as though the lameness came from the shoulder, but a veterinary exam revealed otherwise!