Essay: Massage and magnetic therapy for horses (dressage horse)

Massage is recommended as a treatment of choice for numerous conditions such as musculoskeletal injuries, stress, and relaxation in humans, canines and equines. While massage is frequently performed by therapists and other practitioners its efficacy is questionable. (Brummit, 2008)
Similarly, magnetic therapy is marketed as effective for reducing pain as well as having the potential to increase blood flow, reduce muscle tension and be beneficial in both prevention and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries in horses, although like massage, scientific evidence to support such claims is limited.
There are very few studies on the effects of sports massage and magnetic therapy on horses however there are plenty on the effects on humans. Results and conclusions made from the human studies may be taken and applied to horses in certain disciplines; this essay is based on a dressage horse.
2.0 Sports Massage
The proposed effects of sports massage are endless however there are 4 key areas focussed on in studies; range of motion, pain, blood flow and stress.
Leivadi et al. carried out an investigation on the effects of massage and relaxation therapies on 30 dancers. Their results were that those who received massage treatment reported a significant improvement in neck extension and shoulder abduction, a decrease in back, neck and shoulder pain and decreased cortisol (stress hormone). (Leivadi et al. 1999)
The Leivadi et al. results are useful when looking at the dressage horse as dressage is often considered the equine equivalent of ballet (Hodgson, 2014). Key injuries that occur in dancers are in the hip and ankle, stress fractures and arthritis in the hip, knee and ankle joints. (Deu, 2018) This is very similar to a dressage horse’s key injuries in the pelvis, fetlock, hock and stifle aswell as development of back pain and degenerative disease in the joints. (Dyson, 2016)
The result stating that range of motion was improved post massage therapy could suggest, when applied to the dressage horse, an increase in neck extension and shoulder abduction. (Leivadi et al. 1999) This would improve the performance of the dressage horse especially during a dressage test as it would increase the shoulders range of motion during a movement such as shoulder-in.
The result stating that after massage therapy, dancers had lower cortisol levels, could suggest that massage is useful in a competitive environment. For example, when applied to the dressage horse, massage could prove effective pre-dressage test due to the decrease in feeling of stress.
Whilst this study is useful when looking at massage and the dressage horse, there is an issue with the techniques used being applied to the horse; ‘rocking’ is used to relax muscles, calm the nervous system and open up joints (NHI, 2019), however this technique cannot be used on the horse as the massage therapist alone would not be able to rock the horse’s body like the therapist would have done for the dancers. This could make the results of the Leivadi et al. study useless as it would not be repeatable on the dressage horse.
Hilbert et al. also carried out a study with sports massage on 18 healthy volunteers, they were all randomly selected for the massage therapy or into the control group. Their results, like Leivadi et al., stated that the massage treatment led to a significant decrease in intensity of pain compared to the control group. (Hilbert et al. 2003)
The results from this study are significant when applied to the dressage horse as a key area of pain for them is their back and neck (Dyson, 2016) as strain is placed here during flexion; this suggests that dressage horses may benefit from massage therapy due to its pain relieving effect. This could, in turn, improve the performance and soundness of the dressage horse; if the horse isn’t in pain then it is sound and will perform better.
However, the work of Lightfoot et al. on whether post-exercise massage prevents muscle soreness disagrees with Hilbert et al.; the results show that the application of the petrissage massage technique after exercise did not prevent or alleviate muscle soreness and that such a massage could even result in further tissue damage thus proving ineffective. (Lightfoot et al. 1997)
Shoemaker et al. performed an investigation into whether manual massage altered limb blood flow and their results concluded that manual massage did not elevate total limb blood flow. (Shoemaker et al. 1997)
This is a useful study to use when looking at the dressage horse as all of the techniques used can be repeated on the horse; tapotement, petrissage, effleurage etc.
A study similar to this is the Hinds et al. study on the effects of massage on limb and skin blood flow after quadriceps exercise. Their key finding was that massage did not alter limb blood flow, so supporting the work of Shoemaker et al., however they did find that massage elevated skin blood flow significantly compared to the control group. This change in skin blood flow is thought to occur in order to meet the demands of the thermal stress that massage places upon the skin. (Hinds et al. 2004) This result could prove helpful when applying to the dressage horse as an improvement of skin blood flow could improve rate of injury recovery thus improving soundness.
An issue with applying any of the results from these studies to the horse, is that there is no solid scientific evidence for it being the same on the horse as a human; this makes the results unrepresentative of horses, so whilst assumptions may be made, nothing significant can be drawn. This shows a big gap in the market for research on whether massage therapy is effective on the horse for improving performance and soundness.
3.0 Magnetic Therapy
Magnets often claim to increase blood flow, reduce muscle tension and tenderness, and be beneficial in both prevention and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries in horses. However, there are few studies that confirm these effects. (Edner et al. 2015)
Edner et al. looked into whether a magnetic blanket induced changes in muscular blood flow, skin temperature and muscular tension in horses. Their results were that blood flow, skin temperatures and muscle tension did not differ between active and placebo magnetic blankets so the conclusion to their work was that magnetic blankets don’t induce any significant effects to the horse. (Edner et al. 2015) This study suggests that using magnetic blankets as magnetic therapy would not be an effective way to improve the soundness or performance of the dressage horse. A problem with this study is that it was carried out on 10 healthy horses so the results may not be representative of injured horses and the effects magnetic therapy could have on their rehabilitation and recovery. This is a gap in research that would be very useful to the equestrian community to have.
Borsa et al. conducted a study on whether flexible magnets are effective at decreasing pain after muscle injury on 45 humans.
The conclusions drawn from their results were that there was no significant therapeutic benefits from wearing the magnets, therefore there was no demonstration of efficacy. They concluded their study by stating they do not recommend using flexible magnets to treat musculoskeletal injuries. (Borsa et al. 1998)
This study supports the work of Edner et al. on the basis that magnetic therapy is not effective at producing any significant effects on either humans or horses. The study by Borsa et al. also suggests that the gap in research for injured horses having magnetic therapy during rehabilitation may be a waste of time as magnetic therapy does not produce any effects during human rehabilitation.
Collacott et al. performed an investigation on whether permanent magnets were useful for treating chronic lower back pain on 20 humans. Their results showed no statistically significant differences between the real magnets and the placebos and the conclusion drawn was that the application of a permanent magnet had no effect on chronic lower back pain. (Collacott et al. 2000) This work supports both the Borsa et al. and Edner et al. studies that magnetic therapy is not effective at reducing pain. Again, the study would need to be repeated on horses to make the results representative and therefore applicable to the dressage horse, however.
Hong et al. conducted an investigation into the therapeutic effect of a magnetic necklace on shoulder and neck pain on 101 volunteers. A subjective assessment on pain was carried out before and after the trial and a significant placebo effect was revealed with both the magnetic and non-magnetic necklace however there were no scientific effects shown with the magnetic necklace. (Hong et al. 1982)
This study suggests that magnetic therapy is a placebo effect with humans and may work psychologically by making them think they don’t feel pain, however, this would not work with a dressage horse as it does not know what magnetic therapy is trying to achieve.
4.0 Conclusion
There is an even split in results from studies on sports massage and its efficacy however, whichever view point is taken, it cannot be applied to the dressage horse. There are little to no studies carried out on the effects of sports massage on horses and whilst the human studies might stir up assumptions, none of their results are representative of the horse population, therefore none of them are reliable to use when looking into whether sports massage improves performance or soundness of the horse.
With this being said, massage is proven more effective than magnetic therapy for decreasing pain and obdurate stress in humans as none of the very few studies on magnetic therapy had positive results and it is even suggested to be a placebo effect. This could suggest that any future research into the effects of massage and magnetic therapies on horses will show massage as a more effective therapy for improving soundness and performance.
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