Muscle, Not Joint: How the TFL Tricks You Into Thinking It’s The Stifle
By Leah Tucker, Healthy Strides LLC
Your horse is dragging a hind toe.
Won’t hold a lead.
Short-striding behind.
You’re thinking: Stifle.
Maybe hocks.
Maybe something deeper.
You call the vet. You do flexions. You inject.
And… nothing changes.
Before you go chasing joint problems, let me introduce a different possibility:
The TFL.
A small, overlooked muscle that can create very big, misleading problems.
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🔵 Meet the TFL!
The Tensor Fasciae Latae (TFL) is a thin muscle located at the front edge of the hip. In horses, it connects into the fascia that runs around the hip and stifle. In humans, it feeds into the iliotibial (IT) band and helps stabilize the pelvis and knee.
Did your eyes just glaze over? Yep, most people’s do!
To make things super simple:
The TFL, when dysfunctional, pulls the fascia over the Patella (kneecap) VERY tightly, making the glide in the Stifle joint (knee) restricted and difficult to operate.
This tends to look a lot like a sticky stifle, even to some of the most trained eyes!
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🐴 In Horses: A Stifle Lookalike
TFL dysfunction in horses can mimic stifle pain so convincingly that even seasoned horse owners and vets get thrown off.
The horse may show:
• Toe dragging behind
• Resistance to leads or transitions
• Difficulty with lateral work
• “Off” in the hind without clear lameness
• A choppy, uncomfortable stride
It’s not that the stifle isn’t involved—it is.
But not because the joint itself is damaged.
The TFL’s pull on the fascia surrounding the stifle can alter the way the joint moves, making it feel unstable, tight, or painful—when really, it’s the soft tissue around it causing the issue.
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🧍🏼♀️ In Humans: You’ve Probably Felt It Too
Ever had:
• Pain on the outside of your hip or knee?
• That tight IT band feeling during rides or after long days working on horses?
• Knee pain that flares up even though nothing shows on imaging?
Same story.
When the TFL is doing more than it should—usually because other muscles like the glutes aren’t holding their weight—it starts pulling, compressing, and irritating the surrounding fascia and joints.
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🛠️ Why Bodywork (Not Injections) Often Fixes It
This is where muscle-focused bodywork makes a huge difference.
I specialize in releasing tension in the fascia and muscles that affect joint function—before reaching for injections, medications, or more intense diagnostics.
When I assess a horse showing stifle-like symptoms, I check:
• TFL tension
• Glute and hamstring compensation
• Fascia tightness through the hip and stifle
• Whether muscular restriction is affecting stride mechanics
And nine times out of ten, when we release the restriction in the TFL and surrounding chain, the horse moves better—without needing to touch the joint.
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🔄 Muscle Before Medication
If your horse is showing stifle symptoms that just aren’t resolving, don’t assume it’s always the joint.
Sometimes, it’s a muscle problem.
And the TFL is one of the biggest joint imposters out there.
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📍Based in the Midsouth? Let’s Talk
I offer hands-on, muscle-focused bodywork and body alignment for horses and riders—including soft tissue release, structural integration, and MagnaWave sessions.
📩 Message me to book
📍 Serving the Midsouth