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Spastic paresis
Synonym(s): progressive neuromuscular unilateral bilateral hyperextension hindlimb
Introduction
- Cause: unknown, occurs sporadically. May have a hereditary/genetic link in certain breeds.
- Signs: progressive, painful condition affecting one or both hindlimbs with overextension of the hock.
- Diagnosis: based on clinical signs.
- Treatment: surgical tenotomy of the gastrocnemius muscle or tibial neurectomy.
- Prognosis: guarded, 75% surgical success rate in early cases.
Presenting signs
- Progressive lameness Body condition score and lameness due to overextension of one or both hocks due to gastrocnemius muscle contraction, along with contraction of the calcanean tendon and quadriceps femoris.
- Usually presents unilaterally, but may progress to affect both hindlimbs
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Age predisposition
- Signs usually appear at 3-6 months of age.
- There are reports of a late form of the condition which can manifest at 2-6 years of age.
Breed/Species predisposition
- More common in certain breeds such as Friesian Friesian, Aberdeen Angus Aberdeen Angus, Belgian Blue Belgian Blue and Romagnola.
- Has a 0.1-0.9% prevalence.
- Reported to occur more often in animals with a post-legged conformation.
Cost considerations
- Affected animals should not be bred from due to the risk of heritability.
Pathogenesis
Etiology
- The specific cause of this condition is unknown, but it is a neuromuscular disease:
- Presence of an over-active stretch reflex in the gastrocnemius and overstimulation/lack of inhibition of the motor neurons.
- There may also be some dysregulation of the central nervous system.
- It occurs sporadically in individual animals.
- There are reported links to nutritional factors such as neuro or mycotoxins contaminating feed, or deficiencies in manganese Manganese: overview, but evidence for these links is poor.
Pathophysiology
- Insidious contraction of the gastrocnemius muscle and quadriceps femoris of one or both hindlimbs. This results in overextension of the hock and stifle, and difficulty walking.
- Different groups of muscles may be involved, with the gastrocnemius or quadriceps muscles most commonly reported as being affected. However, presentations with a mixture of these muscle groups, and occasionally other muscles being involved, have also been reported.
- Initially, the animal may just appear to have hindlimb stiffness when walking. The limb may intermittently jerk backwards.
- This will progress to hindlimb rigidity, with the heel bulb raised off the ground, and eventually to the limb being held out caudally with the foot raised up above the ground.
- The condition is painful, resulting in physical deterioration of the overall health of the animal
Timecourse
- This condition has an insidious onset.
Diagnosis
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Treatment
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Prevention
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Outcomes
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Further Reading
Publications
Refereed Papers
- Recent references from PubMed and VetMedResource.
- Goeckmann V, Rothammer S & Medugorac I (2016) Bovine spastic paresis: a review of the genetic background and perspectives for the future. Vet J 216, 64–71 PubMed.
- De Vlamynck C, Pille F & Vlaminck L (2014) Bovine spastic paresis: current knowledge and scientific voids. Vet J 202 (2), 229-235 PubMed.
Other sources of information
- Weaver A D, Atkinson O, St Jean G & Steiner A (2018) Bovine Surgery and Lameness. Wiley Blackwell and Sons Ltd, UK. pp 336.
- Scott P R, Penny C D & Macrae A I (2011) Cattle Medicine. Manson Publishing Ltd, UK. pp 191.