Pressure algometry to quantify muscle pain in racehorses with suspected sacroiliac dysfunction.

Reasons For Performing Study: Despite the prevalence of orthopaedic injuries to horses, there is no objective means of quantifying the intensity of musculoskeletal pain.

Hypotheses: Mechanical nociceptive thresholds (MNT) can be measured repeatably by pressure algometry in horses and MNTs are correlated with both severity of clinical signs and subjective scores of muscle pain on palpation in horses with suspected sacroiliac dysfunction (SID).

Methods: The technique of pressure algometry and its repeatability was tested at 4 anatomical sites on either side of the thoracolumbar and pelvic region in 12 Thoroughbreds in training.