Contributors to fascial tightness
Some horses seem chronically tight, even with regular bodywork and appropriate work. In these cases, it makes sense to look at the broader picture and consider other contributors to fascial tightness.
A healthy diet and stress management go a long way in reducing chronic tightness.
Soft tissue restriction is extremely common in horses and it causes a whole host of issues – from behavioural problems, to decreased performance and lameness. Horses are great at hiding their pain and compensating for weakness, so it sometimes takes a while for the rider to notice that there is a problem with their horse. By that time the web of compensation has become so tangled, that it's often hard to know where and why the issue started. In those cases, restoring optimal movement becomes like peeling an onion. We have to get through all the layers, slowly and patiently.
In some horses it seems like the layers are endless. We manage to resolve one issue, and another one appears. We work on the tight tissues, but they keep coming back. In those cases, it helps to look at the broader picture. The myofascial system is a living structure that does not work in isolation. It's connected to the nervous system, the immune system, the digestive system... This means imbalances in those systems can potentially have a negative impact on fascia. Of course, this is an incredibly interesting topic about which we don't yet know as much as we would like to, but here are some things that are worth thinking about.
Restricted and tight fascia appears in response to injury or biomechanical dysfunction, but it can also be exacerbated by other things. For one, stress has a huge impact on tightness. Sympathetic arousal puts the body in a fight or flight state – the heat rate increases, the breathing speeds up and the muscles are ready to fire. Increased muscle tone goes hand in hand with stress. When stress becomes chronic, a higher muscle tone becomes the default. And it's not just muscles, it's fascia too. Chronic stress can cause fascia to become tighter and restricted. This decreases the blood flow into tissues, which only adds to the vicious cycle of restriction.
Another thing that is often overlooked in chronic fascial tightness is diet. Diet affects not only the pH of the intestines, but the pH in the tissues too. When horses are fed diets high in simple carbohydrates, like starches, the environment in the intestines becomes more acidic – the pH becomes lower. This will impact the pH of the tissues, which in turn increases contractility in fascia – it becomes tighter.
So, when dealing with a horse whose myofascial system seems to be chronically tight and it responds very slowly to bodywork and rehab work, consider making changes in lifestyle too. Reduce chronic stress levels as much as possible and make sure the horse is eating an appropriate diet. And even if you have a horse with no soft tissue issues, try to reduce stress levels and ensure a healthy diet. These two things have such a huge impact on overall health and wellbeing, it just makes sense to stay on top of them.