Osteopathy’s Systemic Effects in Horses

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Equine osteopathic manual therapy is widely used to improve biomechanics and support rehabilitation, yet its systemic physiological effects have rarely been rigorously measured. In this thesis, Carla Pujadó analyses the findings of a landmark controlled study involving thirty Thoroughbred horses to examine how a single OMT session — using Pascal's high-velocity, low-amplitude technique — produces measurable changes across three of the body's most important regulatory systems: the autonomic nervous system, the immune system, and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis. The results are striking. Blood serum cortisol rose significantly in the experimental group immediately after treatment, then declined toward baseline within an hour — a transient HPA axis activation consistent with patterns observed in human OMT research. White blood cell counts showed a parallel fluctuation, indicating an acute immune response rather than a sustained inflammatory shift. Body temperature increased significantly in treated horses, pointing to autonomic involvement in thermoregulation, while heart rate trends suggested a shift toward parasympathetic dominance, even when changes fell short of statistical significance. Pujadó situates these findings within ten clinical cases — horses presenting with neurological deficits, pelvic asymmetry, suspensory desmitis, and chronic thoracolumbar pain — demonstrating how the physiological responses documented in the study map onto real-world presentations. The thesis also confronts an uncomfortable gap: despite OMT's growing clinical use, only one published study examines its systemic physiological effects in horses. Pujadó identifies the methodological, funding, and standardisation barriers that have slowed this research, and makes a compelling case for why closing that gap matters — not just for science, but for the horses practitioners treat every day.