26/03/2025
Dermatomes what the heck are they??
Let me first say that my picture is probably not accurate but I wanted to help you understand how much of the equine body they cover and I have checked and checked and every picture varies depending on who has drawn them
So please allow me to have social licence on this ๐๐
Even in the human therapy world often the charts vary and were originally designed to be able to help therapists understand what the tutor was trying to say and help those therapists visualise what lies beneath rather than being anatomically correct ๐
So what are Dermatomes???
It describes an area of skin supplied and innervated by a single spinal nerve root, spinal nerves are part of the peripheral nervous system (PNS), they are grouped by the region of the spine they are associated with i.e 8 cervical, 18 thoracic, 6 lumbar, 5 sacral, the cauda equina form part of the coccygeal nerve roots.
These nerves help relay sensory, motor and autonomic information between the rest of the horses body and the Central Nervous System (CNS).
The dermatomes relay specific information from specific areas there is 1 less dermatome than spinal nerves as C1 is not included and the dermatomes start from C2, it is never exact on each individual horse because each horse can have a variation of the area they cover but as a guide the following areas are covered.
Remember back in the olden days of learning about horse health and one of those things we looked for was the "staring" coat well what are the one of things that first stand out when you are assessing a horse ??? Coat colour or texture change, a horse often has that coat that in one area stands out from the shiny healthy looking coat on the rest of the body, coat change matters.
Internal health will always have a reflection on external visuals we are seeing.
Part of a neurological exam will include testing of the dermatomes checking to correlate nerves to loss of sensation. Often its easier done with humans as we can give verbal aswell as visual clues to the tester. The skill of the tester has to be spot on when working with the horse as visual clues are only used
There is a two way connection between the brain and the dermatomes, the brain will send signals to the dermatome which will control the muscle and the nerves in the dermatome will send signals back for sensation. If in trouble the connection may be lost or misfire.
Think of it like a highway with the traffic moving smoothly and everyone getting to their destination without any difficulty if there is a problem the traffic can get backed up, lost or come to a complete standstill.
Motor, sensory and autonomic function can be affected
Motor can show up as muscle weakness, atrophy, uncontrolled movement
Sensory can show up as pain, tingling or numbness.
Autonomic can show up as excessive or non existent sweat patches, toileting issues.
It is so important that veterinary care is sought to get a proper diagnosis, and treatment
Good spinal health in your horse is so important so make sure the structures supporting it are in good health and not being overworked, unfit or to young.
Trauma like falls or crashing into something can often go unchecked as the horse looks to recover quickly but these should always be checked out by the vet
Like I say this is only my musings and not gospel so if you have anything to add or if I am wrong in any of my musings I am open to correction as long as it's done without malice
And again I know my drawing has artistic licence but hopefully it will help you to visualise how much they affect the body
Whole horse therapy
