This Time I'm Really Going To Do It

daisy_1571

re physio/massage/acupuncture/acupressure/water therapies 

There's lots to think about.  Fir what's its worth heres my thoughts

It depends on what happened where you might get best value for money spent ie cc feels better.  If its a torn/tight/damaged muscle he needs to repair that muscle before water therapy to build stronger muscle will have benefits.   
If its referred pain from an injury elsewhere- like when you hurt your ankle, walking funny for a while will hurt opposite knee/same side knee/hip opposite or same side/back and even up to neck you want a therapist that will take the time to watch him walk, maybe feed, slower and faster gaits,  maybe different surfaces as grass can mask things a hard surface brings out and vice versa etc.  Then perhaps palpate his body to find areas of tenderness, heat, tension etc.  Only then should they start to offer a plan to help him.  
Also, it can be difficult working out where the limp is - dogs and horses 4 legs, head and tail.  Pain anywhere can affect movement.   Sometimes front limp is actually sore rear leg, ear infection or teeth infection so all aspects must be checked.  Also as one area is 'fixed' the limp can move - doesn't mean they don't know what they are doing, just means the body is healing in one place so other issues can surface.   I'm saying limp as that's easy to visualise but it can be any issue.

Sometimes we found the area presenting the issue, maybe front right limp, or stiffness after sleeping or reduced interest in eating/moving, less enjoyment in life....whatever it might be, as we worked over whole body and begun to loosen everything,  we could find an area of kind of original issue.  Protecting it, masking the pain, over compensation elsewhere in the body had made the secondary issue seem like the area of biggest concern. 

There's also a lot of work done in massage on the fascia of the body.  Fascinating.   Fascia covers everything in the body and within the body.  Early physicians used to cut it all away thinking it did nothing and they wanted to expose the muscle and organs.  Now we know a lot more about it.  Fascia that has tightened can show in reduced stride length, awkward movement etc etc.  We liken it to wearing trousers two sizes too small and trying to walk quickly. Getting it released is like not realising when your tights are twisted round ankle and calf, when you pull from the waistband they move unexpectedly around your leg.  Once you straighten it all out your leg can move freely without bits pulling.

Sorry, its hard to type-explain rather than talk and show an owner on their pet's body but I hope that makes sense.   And gives you more knowledge to ask questions and talk to the various professionals.   I could talk about it all day so if you have any questions just ask.  I try to help anyone have more knowledge so they can pick the right therapy at the right time one, to not waste money but 2, to ensure your pet benefits from what is happening to them.

Another very interesting aspect - when we are working on the dog and talking to the owner it is amazing how many times dog is presenting with the same issues as the human has, pain same part of body, behaviour etc.  You've been through a tense stressful time.  Pets pick up on this.  It affects their bodies as well as yours.  As we begin to relax the body starts reacting: a stressful job and on a 2 week holiday person gets a cold.  Its the relaxing from constant stress.  Perhaps you are starting to relax a bit and so are the pets?  

Sorry I'm throwing lots of things at you here as they occur to me.  Apologies I've maybe given you lots more to think about.   Feel free to tell me to pipe down lol.  Ill stop now before I think of anything else to add
 
Daisy xxx 

Watty1

Daisy that was really helpful so thank you. It makes me think fascia might be the issue.  He had surgery for colic last year (so would have been turned upside down and moved on racks by his hooves and then when he came through that he had to spend 3 months in his stable with just going for walks each day for 15 mins (it was supposed to be for 15 mins x 3 a day but I extended it with vets permission as I had help to walk him and he was just so happy to be out of his stable).   His entire core muscles would have been cut open and they take about 6 months to heal up.   His stride length when I first took him out was much longer, now it is shorter and he is unwilling to go forwards and stretch.  It is as if part of him as seized up a bit and he is now behaving like a much older stiffer horse. 

The picture is a little complicated as he has EMS which is the equine equivalent of type 2 diabetes. I think that might improve with a little more work but I'm reluctant to push him if he is stiff and sore.

The water treadmill is about fitness without pressure, and the introductory session is with very little water to see if he would enjoy it (some horses hate it) but I don't want to try that as an ongoing idea if he is stiff and sore somewhere.

As a side note, this forum is quite incredible.  I love reading the diaries, someone posts something seemingly just as a note about their live and someone reading along has amazing knowledge to share.    Having read @daisy_1571's comments i wonder if massage might be better than physio?  Daisy, what do you think?

daisy_1571

Not a problem at all watty, I love talking body structures now.  Wish I'd done biology at school now but I came to it later in life.

Anyway, one of the systems of the body is your lymphatic system.   Unlike the blood which has the heart to pump it round the body, the lymphatic system relies on getting squeezed by the muscles as you move.  If you don't move enough, it can build up in the structures of the body.  Older or unwell folks sitting for lengths of time can end up with swelling in their lower legs, thats a visual of the fluid build up.  Massage helps by manually moving the muscles and skin etc so helps the lymph start moving again if there hasn't been a lot of physical movement.  Massage also helps with the blood flow.  Moving the 'old' blood and lymph out helps take away the waste products then the 'fresh' blood and lymph rolls in with fresh oxygen and nutrients.  So whilst he was on rest, there would have been a bit of a build up of stickiness rather than fluidity if you see what I mean.  

The fascia helps all the structures of the body slide and glide, giving again, fluidity of movement.  This needs the body to be hydrated and moving.  So between the surgery (the actual cutting as well as the movement whilst he was under) and the enforced rest, just from knowledge of what that could do to any body, id say there's a good chance he needs movement to get various fluids moving again.  The hydro as you describe sounds like it can help, I'd always say massage can help, often very effective in conjunction with other therapies.   Its drug free, basically helps the body help itself.  I'm no expert in other therapies but the people you take him to will be. 

Massage helps to lengthen the muscles out from where they have been tight and getting stiff.  Once they are lengthening and softening, it naturally means the body can flex better - longer stride, better twisting ie when head goes down to feed, when spine twists side to side etc.  When the muscle has been injured, whether by tearing or being cut, there is always going to be scar tissue.   Now that means that the muscle is never going to stretch out as well as it did when it was young, supple and whole.  Think of it like a jumper.  It stretches in the line of the knitting but get a hole in it and darn it, that bit is never going stretch out into the same length as the bits that didn't get injured.   Massage can help keep the 'darn' as small as possible but it will always be there.  

Btw, its not judgement about how surgery etc is done.  We often need surgery and it needs done quickly so they have to treat us as meat.  Then we need rest to help recovery and for animals who cant be reasoned with, that means crate or stable rest.  Thats all just fact.  People like me do a different kind of job, slower and more harmonious with the way the body heals itself.  We come into our own before and after surgery as well as working with older animals, injury,  arthritis etc.

This is all just general body advice.  Only vets diagnose, i'm not an insured therapist any more , I don't do horses and even if he was a dog, I haven't laid my hands on him.  Its the people that he sees that will give you a fuller picture of what they find. 

Dxxx

badmemory

Wow Watty, Daisy has just described my body over the last couple of years.  I had a hip replacement a couple of months ago & hadn't realised how much I had lost before.  Once I got going again I haven't had swollen ankles again & I am steadily getting most of the old movement back again.  I have actually found myself massaging around the op without thinking  as it does make it easier.

Suffolk_lass

I cannot comment on your animals but I wanted to mention the packing of your life with "things" like diet, gluten, alcohol, selling stuff and planning. It's perfectly normal to do this after a relationship fails. To some extent, your brain has been keeping busy, either to block bits you don't want to think about (that is me, "Scarlett!") or to fill the void the relationship occupied, or it can be to prove to yourself that everything can be different, better, in your control. You are right to cut yourself some slack in these areas. The old saying, "everything in moderation" really does apply.

Personally, I would tot up what you are eating and drinking rather than purging your system by giving it all up. From a simple periodic observation you will know what triggers the excess and whether you are better giving up, reducing, or accommodating a binge-consumption model.

Regarding gluten; I appreciate many consider themselves gluten intolerant but when the allergy clinic tests us we are not. Other additives in bread are worth looking at in this instance but there is a much wider thing, however. If you stop eating things that don't agree with you, your body may well stop having the ability to process that food.

I used to get mouth ulcers after eating one food, so I cut it out and now get a much more obvious reaction to it and anything similar in my diet. Having been to the allergy clinic, their treatment approach is to build some tolerance by exposure to the allergen. So (for example) I came out as allergic to cats. I knew this many years ago. So I live with a short haired cat (much loved moggie) and after being away for a few days or several weeks, I know I will need to double the dose on my asthma inhaler and take an antihistamine and pop in eye drops for several weeks on my return, to re-accustom myself to living with a cat. If I did not have a cat I would react much more than a mild spell of wheezing, on the occasions I met one.

I know some people cannot have gluten (Crohn's, IBS etc) but many have diagnosed themselves and by excluding things, they stop being able to eat or drink them. Dairy is another example. The effects of different combinations of foods on our bodies is quite a personal thing, but symptoms will resonate with many. Unless you take a complete exclusion approach, going to a medically supervised completely simple diet to calm down those combination intolerances and then reintroduce things slowly, to determine the triggers, it is possible you are building a dietary burden for the future.

Watty1

@Suffolk_lass that was a very thoughtful post.  Thank you.  And I think you nailed it in that my thought processes are a desperate need to get control and busy my brain.  

I had already realised that (a)  I like a glass of fizz or 2 or even 3! and (b) the festive season is approaching and I can't give up that lot and enjoy myself with friends without being really restrictive and I want to enjoy a mince pie and a coffee in a cafe, bread and home made soup and a glass of fizz for the festive season.   So I am being more relaxed and shelving that idea for now.  The book I read was really good on the inflammatory processes in the gut (rather than allergy) but if I am honest I would be better getting another hours sleep and riding my horses rather than worrying about that lot.   I suspect my exhaustion is more emotional that diet related.

Even selling stuff and decluttering was becoming too much for me, hence my decision earlier in the week to donate or just put stuff in a drawer for now.

LadyWithAPlan

I think you should give yourself the last 37 days of the year to reflect on your lessons learned, your wins and huge successes of 2023 as you have really moved on so much - then look at the new year to clean up,  lose weight if you want to and get new habits 

The Fodmap diet is very good and advised on the NHS programme for helping gut Symptoms- you can read a book or online but I suggest you wait til after the new year and enjoy Dec! It’s medically proven to help a high % of IBS sufferers . My sister is much better on it however she now knows certain foods make her react in particular so I am avoiding it as I am being ostrich like in case like her I have an issue with some pulses and onions  
she has auto immune and colitis so it’s serious and runs in my family  

Allergies are indeed different for everyone and it’s a choice that you get to make yourself . Knowledge is power though. Knowing what upsets you and you can then choose - I allow some small scraps of dairy in my diet (I have DF milk and DF butter at home but I know they often cook with dairy out and I v occasionally will have cheese or a bit of chocolate - too much though and  I then  get excema in my scalp ,(I have it now)  a red rash on my neck and I can hear the mucus on my chest as I breathe which is unpleasant .  That’s what I experience and it’s a choice to occasionally eat it. Also travelling GF DF is v difficult 

I know for total health it would be better to quit 100%  however life can make it difficult - when I am singing I completely cut it out as it affects my vocal  quality as well - people have exclaimed with astonishment hearing me normally then 3 weeks later being DF completely

you also can’t test for dairy properly it often doesn’t show up - as told by a consultant in this to my sister for my niece who is v allergic to gluten soya dairy oranges and since cutting it all out at 6 yrs is much heather and no longer being sick and missing school 

As you are reading on it yes the other real  concern though is actually inflammation- eating foods that don’t agree with you and you react to does affect your brain, your mood  and your health. Inflammation is really a bad thing as it can also contribute to long term diseases such as diabetes, some cancers , colitis etc as well as making you depressed - there is loads research on this and you also  feel awful and bloated 

I will note there is also research that caffeine is not good for the brain but I do drink it ! I also like a drink or two … despite knowing it kills brain cells 


The inflammation though  is why I am completely GF - the only way to test for Celiac is to eat gluten for 6 weeks then have a test and I would not put myself thru that but that’s me - I knew I felt bad eating bread and pasta always but I would allow a bit and feel dreadful - since being GF  completely there is no way I would go back to how I felt before. I will starve on a plane if they forget my gf meal - so I take my own and I always check YS food for wheat and don’t then buy it if is has. 
 Everyone in the family is GF by their own choice apart from the v small kids but it’s our individual choice based on wanting to feel great and the severity of our reactions 

As suffolk lass says of course avoiding things that kick you off can make you more allergic. 

I had cats but they were hypo allergenic ones and had to stay out locked  out my bedroom.  I now can stroke one but need to not then rub my eye before washing my hands - which I did in the States and my eyes blew up which was v unpleasant and took 24 hours and strong histamine to come down - so much as I love cats I personally will have a dog next time they trigger me a lot less - why do that to myself on a daily basis ? 

Your life your health your happiness your choice in all and you are now in a new wonderful world  of getting to decide what works for you  personally 

Suffolk_lass

I just wanted to add a bit about eczema as LAPlan mentioned it. From my teenage years I used to get a patch around both nostrils, and spreading down to the underside of both corners of my mouth. I repeatedly sought advice from GP (and dermatologists after a referral) and I was advised to try balneum oil (coal tar to you and me) in bath water, to suppress the itch, and then hydrocortisone cream (which we now know, thins the skin if used too often). It always started in autumn and ran through until I went skiing in spring.

I eventually took a friend's recommendation and went to a homeopath in my mid thirties; completely sceptical but wanting to find a solution for my then small son. So she tested us both and then had us on a quite limited diet with some drops, returning to see her in six weeks. I have no idea if the remedy did anything but after six days on the diet, both of us had skin that was clear and it has never recurred. My triggers are a combination of caffeine, sugar and yeast (people used to talk a lot about candida growth in your stomach, but I never hear this now) - for me, I can happily tick along with normal amounts of any two, but as soon as I have all three, I start to feel odd and it is to do with excess and the combination of the three together. Christas is always the worst and I often go really simple after the excess to sort of reset everything.

I think there are various ways of working it out, with different diets, books or alternative practitioners, and we still have a way to go to fully understand this area. I don't have any family history of this but I was given a medical intervention drug that was subsequently withdrawn when I was  a child (I was dying, and it saved me, but I might have an altered immune system as a result). 

Watty1

LadyWithAPlan said:

I think you should give yourself the last 37 days of the year to reflect on your lessons learned, your wins and huge successes of 2023 as you have really moved on so much - then look at the new year to clean up,  lose weight if you want to and get new habits 

There has been a lot of really great advice on this thread but the above really struck a chord with me.     Yes, the last 37 days to reflect on the year, the lessons, the wins and generally just rest, work and play with the animals.  That is my plan.

This is a huge turn around in my thinking but it just feels right.  

Daisy also made me think about the stuff I was planning on selling and had already turned out.  Instead it is all in bags to be donated.  The horse stuff I was going to sell is safely stashed in a drawer until next year..  I have a few things listed on Vinted so I will leave them and I will try to sell the saddle as that would be a big win but everything else is going to be donated or recycled as the small wins from selling will just add to the stress right now.  It has all been bagged up ready to go to donation points. . I'm going to give everything a rest.

I will continue with fitness plans for the Charming Cob because that is a nice thing for me to do and I love being out with him plus it is a big part of my new life but I've put the plans to take Most Handsome out competing on hold too until next year. 

As part of clearing up the living room there is also a very large pile of stuff to be donated and/or recycled piled up and after he finishes work today the VNM is going to give me a hand remove the lot then we will take WattyDog to see the Christmas Lights switch on in the village.

As for the food stuff, I enjoyed a Chinese take-away and some fizz with a friend last night.  I feel fine. I'll leave all the cutting out and experimentation until next year too.  Maybe I'll never come back to it.

For my own work, I will finish the course for launch in the next year and I've made a list of all the work stuff that is adding to the stress and I will tackle some of that today. (My lovely accountant has fixed the problem with my accounting errors so I can file my VAT today too). 

I've had a shower, ridden the Charming Cob with a neighbour and her horse and for the first time in a long time I genuinely feel a sense of calm.  Thank you all

themadvix

That sounds like a wonderful plan Watty. Enjoy!