Equine Podiatry 201

Podiatry 

Thoracic Limb Osseous Anatomy is a course that covers the osseous anatomy of the thoracic limb of the horse and the dog.  This course is designed with the goal of orienting the animal chiropractic student to the bones of the limbs and their function.  This course will enable the student to identify the boney portion of the limbs of horse and dog and will also aid in understanding of the structure upon which the muscles are applied.  At the end of this course the student will be able to identify each bone and explain its function and to which areas major muscle attachments occur.  Dr. Amy Hayek is the instructor.  Pelvic Limb Osseous Anatomy is a course that covers the osseous anatomy of the pelvic limb of the horse and dog. This course is designed with the goal of orienting the animal chiropractic student to the bones of the limbs and their function.  This course will enable the student to identify the boney portion of the limbs of horse and dog and will also aid in understanding of the structure upon which the muscles are applied.  At the end of this course the student will be able to identify each bone and explain its function and to which areas major muscle attachments occur.  Dr. Bill Ormston is the instructor.  Thoracic Limb Neuro Anatomy; for as much as our understanding of neurology has developed and changed over the past 30 years, the neuroanatomy of the animal’s veterinarian’s treatment has stayed the same.  However, some of the understanding of how the muscles which are innervated by the nerves has also improved.  This course will look to the cutting edge of neurology in explaining the function of the nervous system on the thoracic limb and how it contributes to animal behavior. Dr. Amy Hayek is the instructor.  Pelvic Limb Neuro Anatomy:  The nerves of the hind leg are arranged, as the front limb, in an orderly fashion.  All of the nerve fibers originate from the ventral spinal roots of the Lumbar spinal segments.  We will review briefly the nervous system of the hip in order to address muscles that originate there but that affect the limb.  The student will be able to identify the spinous sections from which the nerves arise and what may cause dysfunction in certain areas of the limb upon completion of this lecture as our goal is to help students gain confidence in their ability to restore function to this area.  Dr. Amy Hayek is the instructor.  The Thoracic Limb Myology; the goals of this lecture are to familiarize the animal chiropractic student with the anatomy of the muscles and their function in the thoracic limb.  It is important that students begin to understand the relationships between muscle groups and the behaviors animals express when these muscles are functioning and when they are not.  Learning the origin, insertion, action and innervation to each muscle will allow the student to begin to piece the whole picture together.  At the end of this lecture the student will be able to identify not only normal function but abnormal limb motion due to muscle dysfunction.  Dr. Amy Hayek is the instructor.  Pelvic Limb Myology is a course that examines the muscles of the limbs and their relationship to the forward motion of the animal.  The student will be able to identify the function of the muscles in the pelvic leg and changes in behavior of the animal due to changes in the function of these muscles ability to perform their function.  Dr. Amy Hayek is the instructor.  The Equine Hoof is a lecture that will attempt to expose the student to the following concepts:  Anatomy of the equine hoof, biomechanics of the equine hoof and how these biomechanics affect leg biomechanics, how leg biomechanics affect the hoof, some concepts of shoeing and when it is rational to consider shoeing a horse.  Because the goal of the animal chiropractor is to allow the animal to heal, rather than to simply decrease the presence of a symptom, there are situations where the idea of shoeing is unreasonable.  At the completion of this course students will have gained an insight into the function of the single toed ungulate hoof biomechanics and gain an appreciation for the immense importance of the hoof in these animals. Dr. Amy Hayek is the instructor.  The course in Advanced Podiatry is designed to cover the ideas about which trimming and shoeing help domestic animals approximate the evolutionary hoof they were designed to use to support their size and allow them to move swiftly.  In this lecture different abnormal elements of equine hoof growth will be explored, and we will discuss the environmental influences that shaped those feet to be the way they are. We will compare some hoof changes to the way in which they came about and how they relate to other hoof distortions seen in horses.  We will also discuss extensively the neurobiomechanics that are unique to the equine hoof and how that shapes the animal’s life.  Dr. Amy Hayek is the instructor.  The course Environment Impact to the Foot with Dr. Amy Hayek as the instructor.  Dr. Hayek uses the experience she gained as a certified Barefoot trimmer and the knowledge of equine lameness garnered from years as an equine veterinarian to look at the effects of trimming and footing on the equine foot.  She follows this up with Radiographic Evaluation of the Foot where she explains how to look for normal and abnormal findings in equine hoof radiographs.  The purpose of these lectures is to enable the student to better communicate with the farrier and veterinarian from a neurological standpoint.  Gait Analysis parts 1 through 6 are individual courses taught by Dr. Ormston that progressively take the student from seeing the biomechanics as a complex system of motion to seeing the individual elements of gait that make it possible to be able to access animals in motion.  Dr. O explains that being able to identify the organization of biomechanics of movement in animals are important for the animal chiropractor to be able to diagnose and successfully treat the patient.  Since normal movement of the animal is what we strive for as animal chiropractors, understanding step by step the process of identifying what we see in normal animal movement and what constitutes abnormal animal movement is essential.  Evaluating the animal moving is far more important than examining the animal at rest in this discipline.  Gait analysis allows the animal chiropractor to begin to understand the means by which gravity interacts with various species, various disciplines of athletics, and different jobs of animal patients.  This allows the animal chiropractor to become more effective at communicating with clients about their animals.