by
John F. Barnes, PT
Special to PT Today
I have
had a deep love of animals all of my life. As I have moved through
my career I began to apply the myofascial principles to various
types of animals with great success. I have treated dogs, cats
and horses. As you can imagine, it gives one tremendous satisfaction
to help an animal friend in trouble.
I have
treated many types of equine athletes: standardbreds and thoroughbreds,
eventing, jumpers and dressage horses. These are high-performance
horses whose trainers/owners have been told that there is nothing
else that can be done by veterinary medicine or traditional therapy
and that if the owner would continue to race these horses they
would go lame and have to be destroyed. Their advice was to end
the animals' career and put the horses "out to pasture."
These horses
were brought to me and I applied the myofascial principles and
techniques. Every one of these horses responded and are now racing
and performing, with many winning ribbons and breaking records.
Myofascial release is the "missing link in treatment for human
and equine athletes.
EVALUATION AND TREATMENT
I would
like to share with you an example of my evaluation and treatment
of a two-year-old racehorse that had tremendous potential and
conformation. However, every time his trainers ran him he broke
down and went lame within 100-150 yards.
This equine
athlete was seen by numerous veterinarians at the University of
Pennsylvania's New Boltan Center located in Kennett Square, one
of the leading veterinary centers in the world. They tried everything
veterinary science had to offer with no success and told the owner
that there was no hope for improvement.
He was
a beautiful, powerfully built horse with excellent conformation.
His gait analysis demonstrated that he veered off mid-line to
the left, had reduced forward swing of the left hind limb with
excessive internal rotation upon hoof strike, and reduced fluidity
of motion of the left fore leg and mid-cervical regions.
MYOFASCIAL/OSSEOUS
ANALYSIS
There was
restriction of motion of the left sacroiliac, and anterior rotation
of the left ilea with resultant internal rotation of the left
femur. Myofascial restrictions and compensation were found in
the left psoas, hamstring and quadriceps areas. Compression of
the lumbosacral junction was found, in addition to osseous restrictions
with resultant range-of-motion loss and tenderness in the left
cervical 3 and 4. Compensating myofascial restrictions were found
in the left trapezius, supraspinatus and triceps areas.
Myofascial
release, myofascial/osseous mobilization techniques, myofascial
unwinding and movement facilitation procedures were administered
to the painful and restricted areas. Immediately after treatment,
I asked his trainer to take the horse out and run him on the track.
The trainer was astonished to find that he ran a mile for the
first time in his life. He subsequently went into earnest training,
running four miles in good time and went on to win races in record
time.
The results
produced by myofascial release techniques with horses has created
an enormous demand for therapists with these skills. With this
in mind, I have designed a myofascial release equine therapy seminar
with my son Mark F. Barnes, MPT, and his wife Shannon M. Barnes.
Mark has
a degree in exercise physiology and a master's degree in physical
therapy and practices in Boulder, CO. Shannon and Mark have extensive
experience in training and treating high-performance horses. They
have recently purchased a 35-acre ranch high in the Rocky Mountains
to establish a myofascial equine treatment and training center.
Therapists
who have learned these techniques have gone on to develop new
lucrative careers by broadening their therapeutic effectiveness.
For information on
Equine Myofascial Release Seminars, call (800) 473-0657.
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