Study Confirms Effectiveness Of The “Squeeze Technique”

 
Replicating compression during birth can help foals with neonatal maladjustment syndrome wake up.
The first largescale study of the physical compression procedure known as the Madigan squeeze technique confirms that it helps newborn foals with neonatal maladjustment syndrome NMS recover more quickly than those treated with only medication. The technique which involves wrapping a foals upper torso with loops of soft rope and applying pressure for 20 minutes replicates the compression a foal experiences during birth.

Healthy foals normally stand and nurse within hours of being born.
NMS affects 1 to 3 percent of foals most of whom require extensive and often expensive care. John Madigan DVM of the University of CaliforniaDavis developed the squeeze technique after years of research into how NMS develops. In an earlier study investigating the mechanism of the flopping reaction in newborn foals Madigans group found that pressure across the chest area produced significant brain changes induction of slow wave sleep and hormone changes. He reasoned that this is a biological method that evolved to keep the foal immobilized as it passed through the birth canal. At the same time Madigan wondered if the squeeze signaled the transition from being asleep in the womb to neuroactivation and onset of consciousnessin other words switching the brain from neuroinhibition to neuroactivation with the foal waking up within a few hours to stand and nurse. Survival of the foal as a prey animal would depend on this signaling system he surmised.
In cases of NMS however the factors involved in neuroinhibition which are largely sedative progesterone derivative anestheticlike compounds persist and the foals do not make the transition to consciousness at birth. Foals with NMS remain incoordinated unable to nurse and wander around their stalls in an apparent stupor for hours or even days after birth. Its as if the foals