07/21/2025
I found this article today chronic low back pain in humans and all I could think about was horses.
Chronic back pain in humans is being studied more and more because of the millions of people dealing with it and the most common culprit? Unhealthy fascia.
Fascia, especially fascia in the low back (thoracolumbar fascia) is jam-packed full of nerves and mechanoreceptors.
Mechanoreceptors are specialized cells that report specific information to the brain. Some cells reports pain, some report pressure, some reports soft touch, some report vibration, and so on.
Nerves and mechanoreceptors in the fascia are highly responsible for proprioception - knowing where body parts and joints are in space - because input from nerves in the fascia travel to the brain 3 times faster than (most) other sensory messages carried to the brain.
Eyesight is the only input that arrives faster to the brain
The interesting and unfortunate scenario is that one of the areas of most densely packed nerves and mechanoreceptors is also the site of most commonly found unhealthy fascia.
The results of the study go on to discuss the benefit that manual therapy has on the fascia, proprioception, and pain.
Unhealthy, dehydrated, and poorly gliding fascia on the low back results in more pain.
More pain results in more proprioceptive deficits - poor body and joint positioning awareness.
Ever have that bad dull ache in your back that seems to radiate everywhere? You can’t really specify with one finger where it hurts, “it just hurts around here”
Think of your back pain on your worst day and think of how you were holding the rest of your body - probably in a way that most serves protecting your back - and it’s probably not the most athletic positioning.
Think again of that back pain on your worst day. Now I give you an algebra equation to complete. You can’t think much beyond the pain, right?
Now let’s put a saddle on that back, an unbalanced rider, repetitive training and performance, and no manual soft tissue work to address the fascia.
Depending on the severity, it may be hard for that horse to place their feet correctly every step. It may be hard to figure out that new thing you’re teaching them.
Can they do it? Of course.
Could they do it better? Probably.
The fascia is an entire network that encases the whole body.
That means if we think of fascia like a full sized onesie, a snag in the onesie of fascia is pulling on other areas of the body as well. A snag pulls from every area with increasingly more force as the snag increases.
“Fascia should therefore be considered a cause of pain and proprioceptive deficits and treatment should be applied accordingly. Manual therapy could be used to regain proprioceptive acuity in the region of pain. The passive movement with different frequencies, amplitudes and intensities stimulates fascial tissue and the mechanoreceptors. Through this stimulation, additional proprioceptive input is generated, which could lead to altered central processing. This in turn leads to tonus regulation and better performance in proprioceptive assessments. “
Healthy fascia is so important.
Start by just rubbing your horse’s back with your hands! You don’t have to know everything to get started. Focus on the squishy parts of the muscles.
You know how good it feels to have your own back rubbed, try out a pressure you would like for yourself and spend about 5 minutes before each ride working on your own horse. I’ll bet they don’t hate it 🙂
Kopeinig, C., Gödl-Purrer, B. & Salchinger, B. Fascia as a Proprioceptive Organ and its Role in Chronic Pain - a Review of Current Literature. Saf Health 1, A2 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/2056-5917-1-S1-A2
I created a free PDF on how to tape a horse with back pain. It includes 7 different applications.
Comment “free” to get your copy.
