Text book of veterinary medicine, Volume 3 (of 5)Law, James
Science
Text book of veterinary medicine, Volume 3 (of 5)
Law, James
Veterinary medicine
Nature of phenomenon, arhythmic, hyperexcitability of nerve centres or
skin. Nerve section. Head jerking: =horse=, hard bit, severe check,
internal pain, exertion, hypersensitiveness. Treatment: nerve section.
Tongue lolling, etc. Flapping of lower lip. Nasal rhythmic movements.
Weaving, from impatience, rhythmic. Rocking on hind limbs. Resting
foot on coronet. Pawing. Treatment: eliminate irritation, nerve
tonics, sedatives, hygienic measures.
This has been observed especially in the dog and may be easily
confounded with chorea. The muscles on one side of the face, are
twitched at more or less regular intervals, or in other cases there are
sudden opening and closing of the lower jaw. The affection has not been
satisfactorily connected with any special brain lesion, though as in
chorea proper and epilepsy, we must invoke a special disorder or
hyperexcitability of the nerve centres presiding over the affected
muscles. The clonic spasm may in some cases be due only to a motor
impulse from such excited nerve centre, while in others it may be traced
backward along the afferent nerves to an oversensitive part of the skin
or other organ. In these last purely reflex forms of the trouble it may
be possible to correct it by section of the sensory nerves involved.
Convulsive Movements of the Head.
Convulsive movements of the head as a whole constitute a frequent form
of chorea in the dog. It is especially common in horses and shows itself
in different forms. A horse with a tender mouth, or which has been used
with a hard bit, or with a heavy hand on the reins, or which has been
driven with a check rein so short as to be unsuited to its conformation,
is liable to indulge in annoying elevation and depression of the head
when under the saddle or in harness. The same phenomenon may be shown in
connection with violent internal pains, as in strangulated hernia,
intussusception, or twisting of the bowels. The habit once formed is not
easily corrected, so that careful treatment with the view of prevention
is especially to be given.
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