[BoyleHeightsKid]

I did a search and did some reading and am going to talk to my vet but I also want to get some opinions.

A little history. Boy came to me with an old SI injury and dropped left hip that I have no records on when/how or if it was even treated. And after his first visit from the MT/chiro it was apparent nothing was ever done for it.

Late 2008, early 2009 I started having him worked on by an MT/chiro, his whole hind end was a mess... pelvis and lower back were out and he had some muscles in his hind end that hadn't been used for a while. After about 6 months of monthly MT/chiro visits and an E/Se supplement he was looking awesome and holding his adjustments from month to month. Summer of '09 we went to Virginia and he was started over jumps and he worked pretty hard, then after returning from NoVA I got a new job, started a new relationship and took about a year off from riding while getting my life back on track. During this time I had MT/chiro out a few times to work on him. He looked great and needed no adjustments. Started him back into light work last spring and just moved him to a facility with an indoor a few months ago so that we could get more serious. Our rides were great, took him up for hock injections and that seemed to be the icing on the cake. He felt great was working great and felt like he was wearing sneakers. I was excited, finally got a trailer so I could start hauling him to lessons.

Anyway... we started playing with his diet to help him put on some more weight/muscle and we had a few days where he was so high that he was impossible to deal with. He was acting like a mad man charging the fence and acting like he was going to jump it a few times. During one of these episodes he managed to knock his pelvis out again. I noticed it almost right away, he was dragging his back feet and not wanting to lift his back and use himself. Called my wonderful MT/chiro and my suspicions were confirmed. Pelvis out and so sore in his upper back and behind his shoulders he tried to bite her a couple of times. Good news was she was able to get him adjusted and she found no heat or inflammation anywhere.

I'm going to talk to the vet but I'm thinking SI injections might be in order. He only exhibits a couple of signs of SI pain, some mild lower back pain and difficulty with lateral work. He never cross canters or refuses to jump (we are only doing little stuff right now). My plan is to give him a couple of days off then start hitting the trails for a couple of weeks of walking hills as we have lots of them here. Then progressively work him up to full work again.

I think what I'm looking for is some reassurance that injections are probably what is needed here. I've read some pretty great success stories about them.

[doublesstable]

I would say SI injections worked very well for my horse but I knew when the injury happened, had a bone scan done to locate exact area of injury and injected.

It is pricey so I would be sure that's what you are dealing with and it may not work due to not having an exact diagnosis.

I hope whatever you decide it works out. I know how frustrating this can be.

[BoyleHeightsKid]

I've been reading this thread:
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/sh...=SI+injections

I've talked to the vet and I think we're gonna give it a whack.

[VTMorgan06]

My friend had her mares SI injected. She spent a LOT of money, and the mare got worse, then went back to the same NQR behind movement. She had another vet take a look who was shocked that she had spent money of SI injections because, according to him, the SI is not an injectable joint space. Not quite sure if he's right or not, but in the end the horse did not improve and it was VERY expensive.

[deltawave]

The SI joint can be injected, but there are other things that can go wrong in that area besides the joint proper. It is a lot of complicated anatomy with lots of big ligaments holding it all together. It's not like a fetlock or hock where there's just cartilage and not much else happening.

[BoyleHeightsKid]

What I'm hoping for is the injections will make him more comfortable so he will use himself more correctly and I can get him stronger.

I know he's got a leg cocked here but you can see he needs muscle on either side of his croup:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1.../Boy61212c.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...2/IMG_0006.jpg

and his left gaskin is more developed that his right even though his right canter is nicer and more balanced than left canter. He can hold left canter longer, but it's not as nice.
left:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...2/IMG_0005.jpg
right:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...2/IMG_0007.jpg

[Jleegriffith]

With my horse (letterman) he came to CANTER after retiring at the age of 8 with over 50 starts. He was very sound but when I started him in work he was so sore behind in the SI area. I didn't see any uneven muscling and he wasn't lame. Just NQR. He was grumpy, pinned his ears, was reluctant to canter and just tight.

I had given him a bit of time off and then took him to New Bolton for a work up (very reasonable cost and it allowed us to pinpoint certain things). He wasn't even lame enough to block out. She could see more on the videos that I showed her than on the actual lameness exam where we jogged, rode, flexed and repeated.

She said she could do the SI injection as that is where she thought the issue was but she recommend just keep going with the work but to add hills and not do ring work. I didn't ride him in the ring for months. I just hacked him out on the trails and wouldn't you know it all went away.

Liked him so much that I bought him for myself.

I'm glad that I followed her advice not to go with the injections and instead just did rest and then the hacking out. I built him back really slowly for the ring work and I do have the chiro adjust him. When he was really sore he couldn't even be adjusted he hurt so badly. He just seems like a horse that has to have a mix of trail riding to keep him strong enough behind for the ringwork. He has also benefited from a lunging program that helps him build strength and muscle.

[cswoodlandfairy]

I've got a boy that came to me with severe SI issues. I had the same thing, had a Chrio out about every month and slowly got him back on track. I have never done any SI injections, and I was told by various people that sometimes they work and sometimes they don't but that it was hard to inject the area and really pin point where the inflammation was and that even all the injections in the world would never reach the site. Granted this was what I was told so I opted out.

I will say that I was told my horse may never be able to jump and his left hind toe drag was so terrible. He also had muscle atrophy on the left side. My Chrio did however suggest many different on the ground exercise that I could do to strengthen the area. That's what I did and today I only call the chiro if I hes NQR anymore, but they are becoming few and far between. Today Forrest is consistently jumping 3' and schooling 3'6-4' at home.

We did everything in increments and when we added something new we knew he would be sore and the inflammation would come back so we did some bute for the first three days which took care of that issue and he was fine. It was all about building the muscle in the area to hold it together.


Good luck with your guy the SI issues can be hard to battle at times and I know my experience with them was a rollarcoaster with both tears of joy and frustration! If you want to know what exercises I used to help the muscle just let me know, I still have the notes from the chrio of what to do and when!

[BoyleHeightsKid]

If you want to know what exercises I used to help the muscle just let me know, I still have the notes from the chrio of what to do and when!

That would be awesome...

jlee... we do a good bit of trail riding as he enjoys that much more than working in the ring and we have LOTS of hills around here.

[candico]

We had fantastic results with injecting Sarapin in the SI area, but not directly into the joint. Now if we have a slight flare up, shockwave therapy puts it back right. A lot less expensive and less risky, just need to find a vet familiar with it.

[BoyleHeightsKid]

Did some stretching with him last night and went for a trail ride after. He gave me his big stretchy walk and stretchy trot. I could tell in the beginning he felt a little stiff and sore but he worked out of it. I think we are going to do just this for a while. Then we will revisit injections later if it seems like he might still need them.

Thanks for all the helpful tips everyone!

[Jleegriffith]

Good luck! The trail rides really helped my guy get forward and happy again compared to the short strided grumpy attitude. I remember when everything was out of whack and he really didn't seem to care much for jumping. Now he takes you to the fence! Huge difference.

From everything that all my local vets told me about the SI injections, it is something that should be done at a large vet hospital where they are guided by x-ray or ultrasound. It can do more damage than good in the wrong hands.

[equine08]

It is difficult to determine from a pix, but it appears your horse may also be carrying excess fluid in his right stifle.

I've seen a lot of SI injections both on the track and on the farm without a complication. There is no reason why they should be expensive off track except if the vet really does not feel comfortable doing them. The needle costs less than $10 and corticosteroids used for SI joints are very inexpensive. We have not had any performed on the horses we cared for in the last 10 years because they are only really effective when the SI joint is the primary problem which is rarely the case. The SI injection can only provide temporary aid in reducing inflammation and thus some pain. While a series of 3 shock wave treatments encourages blood flow and more permanent results.

Now, an ESI, or a trochanteric bursa injection might help with inflammation and pain in that left hip area. I have similar issues and they have at times helped temporarily.

But what consistently helps the most is heat both before and after exercise. In my case, muscle spasms construct blood flow and produce significant pain. I use a large, deep heating Thermotex electric pad made for horses when at home but I can only get an hour or so of relief if I start doing something strenuous.

The thing I found to be most effective at relieving SI pain consistently all day are the mineral heat packs. They are like large hand warmers. I use the Tylenol 10x 3 ones because they contain no menthol or capasicin which I found irritating. I put it on first thing so that by the time Im ready to some work like 1 1/2-2 hours, my back is completely pain free and relaxed and bending and stretching does not hurt.

[Wyleed]

Does anyone know why it takes up to 2 months for SI injections to work? My horse had issues and we tried injecting his TMJ, he was great for the first week after, more relaxed, less spooky and stressed ect. then I tried to jump and things quickly went down hill. He's now stopping, running out and basically freaking out about jumping little x-rails when we were doing 3' before. As a last resort we are going to try and inject his SI on Monday. He's sore to palpations over it and you can see the muscles spasm on one side when you poke around. He doesn't appear to be sore anywhere else and he's sound and actually looks great He is slightly off on his LH after flection tests and my vet seems to think it could be his back, it doesn't appear to be stifle or hock and we can't afford to do a bunch of X-rays or a bone scan We treated for Lyme and ulcers, had his teeth done, used a chiro, had a saddle fitter out so this is basically a last resort for him. He will have to go into early retirement if this doesn't work....fingers are crossed. Please let me know if you have had the SI injected how long it took for you to see results.....also what types of symptoms was your horse showing that prompted you to get the SI injected?