Digestive issues and back problems?
Here is another example of how everything in the body is connected. Digestive problems and lumbar issues often go hand in hand.
Persistent issues in the back can be connected to digestive problems.
By now I'm starting to feel like a broken record, yelling my »everything is connected!« all the time. But here's another interesting connection that might give you some food for thought. Digestive issues can sometimes – not necessarily cause, but perhaps exacerbate back problems.
I often see horses with big bellies that have tension in their backs, especially the lumbar area. The image of a big belly and a sagging back might lead you to conclude that the horse needs stronger abdominal muscles, but maybe there is more to his problems than that. Very often these horses aren't necessarily overweight, they just appear bloated. Very often the owner will confirm that the horse has indeed been having some digestive issues, like loose stool or faecal water.
There are many reasons why a big sagging belly might cause back issues. The first one is purely mechanical. If the weight of the gut is pulling the spine down, this puts the lumbar vertebrae under more strain. This is often accompanied by tension around the SI area and a limited range of motion of the hind legs resulting from a dysfunctional position of the pelvis.
Another potential reason might have to do with the nervous system. As we know, nerves exit the spinal cord between individual vertebrae and make their way to their destination in the body. In this way, a junction in the spine from which a nerve originates, is directly connected to the organ which said nerve innervates. What this means then, is that communication can (most likely) go both ways. So, we either have a digestive issue that causes back pain, or we have a back issue which causes digestive issues. The famous osteopath Dominique Giniaux, D.V.M. for example says that a distended belly can be a consequence of issues around T12. Obviously, this is not hard science, but it's a very useful concept to keep in mind.