You know, nothing makes me laugh like the confusion on a persons face when they cannot find the pain they had just moments ago.
I don’t see this same reaction on horses faces, but the owners or handlers face is still the same!! Working with horses and dogs is great fun – they often will try and show you the point they want fixed and they are so often spot on!!
Nothing is more rewarding than making animals and their humans feel and perform better. When I first came across P-DTR and had sessions for my excruciating back pain in Spain, I remember the feeling of ‘what the f@#k?? How??’.
I had never laughed so much hrough shear disbelief in a pain therapy session before, but I did during P-DTR, as I felt the pain levels drop dramatically and saw my range of motion change with each ‘boop’ (which I later learned was known as a Deep Tendon Reflex or DTR).
Having now used P-DTR in many situations, my favourite time for therapy is tied between chronic behaviour problems and straight after an injury has occurred, complete opposites of the spectrum – I know!! Straight after the injury just possibly wins though.
I remember my niece appeared at my gran’s house in her school uniform and trainers as she had stubbed her toe the day before. She was hopping about in loads of pain and unable to get her school shoes on - she could barely walk even with her trainers on. While she was sitting with her shoe off I asked her mum if it was ok for me to have a quick look at it.
We went off to the side of the room for 5 minutes for some P-DTR and by the time we were leaving my niece was walking well without pain in her trainers – and even put her school shoes on with no pain when she was leaving!
Horse therapy is no different - currently first aid on horses is fairly limited to cold hosing, icing, magnetic boots, bandaging, poultices, creams and pharmaceuticals. There are not any effective therapies that I am aware of that can really help reduce the horse’s pain and inflammation that are not cold hosing, icing or drugs.
If you have a potential tendon injury or something that may require surgery, there is always the wait for the inflammation to pass before a vet can properly assess, scan and start treatment and rehabilitation the injury.
Those days waiting have to be passed confined to the stable – a less than ideal environment for a horse that is used to being ridden and turned out daily. With P-DTR I can immediately assess the horses’s central nervous system after the injury and take steps to stop and reduce the inflammation that is present as well as reset the muscles of the body so they are functioning as they should and not causing further damage.
Sometimes this is enough and the injury does not take hold, but with tendon sprains and strains I always like to get a scan done anyway to see the actual state of the tissue and take vet’s advice for rehabilitation from there. The horse may appear sound, but the tendon still may need to heal before exercise can be undertaken again.
I have had this experience with my partner (who seems to love to hit his elbows, knees and toes off of things like walls and door frames) and my Jack Russell too (who causes injuries to herself chasing balls with no care for her well being) and was unable to put weight on her foot for 5 days when I was away in San Francisco attending the first Advanced P-DTR seminar.
After a quick P-DTR session the evening I got home, she was a lot comfier and putting weight on the foot and the next morning she was virtually pain free. Very often the joint is involved with dysfunction such as this and with horses I do not know any type of joint treatment besides cortisol injections, stem cell therapy and other invasive treatments, when very often the problem is a trauma to the joint that just needs the receptors involved reset.
There is a super before and after video of my jack Russell at https://www.painlesssportstherapy.com/testimonials-videos for you to check out.
Another time I have benefitted personally from P-DTR first aid was at the beginning of my brothers wedding day – I fell over a chair trying to get out of the way of a photographer and landed with all my weight on the outside of my arm on a stone table.
It was agony, there was an egg-like hematoma rising fast on my arm, I could feel my arm losing it’s function, and I had thoughts of a broken arm and a day in hospital – happy wedding day, dear brother!!
Thankfully I treated it with P-DTR straight away and within minutes the pain started to dissipate, the swelling disappeared and my arm went back to looking normal. There was still a little bit of redness around the area and some really deep down pain at the bone but otherwise I felt ok.
I am sure had I not treated it with P-DTR, I would have been in agony all day and most likely at A&E later for some form of assessment or pain relief. As it was, I was free of all pain from this incident within 2 days.
My favourite treatment of a chronic situation has to have been with a client, who has had an unfortunate time with her cancer diagnosis. After waking up from her mastectomy in unbearable pain, she was unable to sleep at home after that operation – never getting more than 30-40 minutes at a time and really struggling with life as she was so tired.
I was able to treat her and reset her whole body from the moment of trauma onwards, which in turn clears out all the dysfunctions that were caused by that trauma. I got a call from her the next day exclaiming ‘I slept the whole night – I fell asleep at 9 and have just woken up (at 8 am) – I can’t believe it!!!!! First time I have slept more than 30-40 minutes in a year. Thanks so much!’.
That promptly brought me to tears of gratitude for being in the position to help her with her sleep and pain. I have spoken with her loads since then and the answer to ‘How are you sleeping?? Is always – ‘Like a baby!’.
I know that is a human story, so fresh off the press from today we have my favourite horse treatment. A mare that has been with her current owner for 2 years – and always naps when she hacks.
She plants her hooves, rears and whips round, this lady is afraid to hack this horse on her own incase she gets injured and no-one knows where she is. Even when she hacks with company the horse naps and rears many times on a hack.
I treated this mare and then I went a hack with the lady to see how the mare behaved – if she still did it and what her behaviour looked like which would help me figure out what was causing it.
Well it turns out that one session was enough! Do you know she did not nap once??!! The lady was shocked and ecstatic. She literally could not believe it – I also cannot believe it!! 2 years of daily hell and it just vanished, behaviour stopped.
Napping is just the worst and most dangerous behaviour and it is so difficult to find out why a horse does it – I have ended up on a road under a horse in front of traffic coming both ways because it had napped at – well – god knows what!!
Both the horse and I were injured that day – I am so excited to be able to treat and stop this behaviour – traditionally there is no ‘treatment’ for it – trying to discourage them from standing on their back legs by hitting them on the head is fairly common practice.
I now feel that will only cause more dysfunction, rather than help the problem – but what are the options when you are on top of a horse that may well go right over on you and injure you?
I am so excited to be able to offer a painless and effective treatment for it which is quick, stress free and painless to treat.
If you have a situation with yourself or your horse and you would like a chat to see if it is something I can assist you with please do not hesitate to get in touch.
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