Stick With It ✨ Episode 2: Taping For Headshakers Syndrome
Stick With It – Episode 2
Taping For Headshakers Syndrome
Indications:
Headshakers causes horses to have uncontrollable shaking, flicking, or jerking of the head. This can sometimes be quite violent and without any apparent cause. UC Davis has performed extensive research, Researchers have confirmed the involvement of the trigeminal nerve. This nerve is large, and runs across the face. For horses with headshakers, the nerve can fire spontaneously or with minimum stimulus. This causes the horse to experience tingling, itching, or burning sensations. This taping is successful as it is used to decompress areas along the opthamalic, maxillary and mandibular branches of the trigeminal nerve, shown to be involved in the condition.
How to:
Pre-cut 18 small single strips of tape 1" wide and approx. 2.5" long. (9 strips for the left side, and g strips for the right side).
Mark the nerve exit points for ease of locating. These will be on the nerve exit points on the top and bottom jaw, and just below the eye. Specifically they are the opthamalic brinch, maxillary branch and the mandibular branch of the trigeminal nerve.
Using the decompression technique, apply 3 decompression strips at each of the 3 nerve exit points.
The bottom strip of tape will be on 75% stretch and allowed to recoil, the middle strip of tape will be on 50% stretch and allowed to recoil, and the top layer will be on 25% stretch and allowed to recoil.Repeat all 3 nerve ending decompression tapings on the opposite side of the face of the horse.
Try this gentle and well tolerated support for our equine friends with this condition!
If you are ready to up-level your skills with more taping techniques, you’ll love these resources:
The Essential Equine Kinesiology Taping Manual
Stuck Up
Really Stuck Up