Summary A 2‐year‐old Arabian filly presented with acute onset grade 4/5 (AAEP) right forelimb lameness and hindlimb ataxia following a collision with another horse and subsequent fall. The right forelimb lameness was associated with marked scapulohumeral joint instability. Diagnostic investigations, including radiographic evaluation of the shoulder, humerus and elbow, as well as ultrasonographic assessment of the shoulder and scapular region, demonstrated no abnormalities. Latero‐lateral cervical radiographs demonstrated abnormalities consistent with cervical vertebral stenotic myelopathy, including vertebral malalignment at C2–C3 and C3–C4 and moderate enlargement of the C6–C7 articular process joints, resulting in superimposition over the intervertebral foramina. These cervical lesions accounted for the hindlimb ataxia, whereas the shoulder instability and right forelimb lameness were attributed to suprascapular neuropathy, supported by marked atrophy of the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles following injury. Recovery from suprascapular neuropathy is often protracted; therefore, a series of 10 treatments of electroacupuncture and category IV LASER therapy were administered to the atrophied supraspinatus and infraspinous musculature. At 3.5 months after initial presentation, the filly showed complete resolution of shoulder instability, redevelopment of spinatus musculature and near‐complete resolution of lameness, with only inconsistent, mild (grade 1/5 AAEP) right forelimb lameness detectable. By 5 months post‐injury, no lameness or muscle atrophy was observed. Although hindlimb ataxia improved, it did not fully resolve, as was expected based on the suspected aetiology.
Newman et al. (Tue,) studied this question.