Kinetic gait analysis in English Bulldogs

Abstract

BackgroundCanine breed conformation may interfere with locomotion and may predispose to orthopedic disease. Bulldogs have a high incidence of orthopedic diseases such as hip dysplasia. Kinetic gait analysis provides an objective way to assess and analyze locomotion. The aim of this study was to study the vertical forces of English Bulldogs during walk using a pressure sensitive walkway. We hypothesize that Bulldogs affected by orthopedic diseases have decreased weight bearing and asymmetric locomotion in the limbs despite having mild to no sings during clinical examination. Thirty English Bulldogs were tested. Peak vertical force, vertical impulse, rate of loading, stance phase duration, symmetry index, goniometry and incidence of orthopedic diseases were recorded.ResultsAlthough none of the dogs showed signs of pain or discomfort upon manipulation of the hip joints, all dogs had radiographic evidences of hip dysplasia and lack of significant peak vertical force, vertical impulse and stance time differences. The dogs had a mean hind limb symmetry index of 19.8 ± 19.5% and rates of loading ranged from 1.0 to 3.1.ConclusionsDespite the lack of evident decrease in weight bearing, subclinical lameness can be inferred. The examined dogs had a mean hind limb symmetry index of 19.8 ± 19.5%. Symmetry indices reported in dogs free from orthopedic diseases range from 0.3 to 9.6%. Given non-lame dogs are expected to have a symmetry index close to 0%, data from this study suggests that Bulldogs have gait dysfunctions, which translates into hind limb asymmetries and rate of loading was consistent with severe hip dysplasia despite no visible signs of gait dysfunction. Future studies comparing lame and non-lame Bulldogs are warranted.

Kinetic gait analysis in healthy dogs and dogs with osteoarthritis: An evaluation of precision and overlap performance of a pressure-sensitive walkway and the use of symmetry indices

“…Each group contained a mixture of breeds and was considered broadly representative of the general population of large breed dogs presented to our practice. However, breed variation has been described [15,17,35] and even though Labrador and Golden Retrievers were the dominant breeds in both groups of dogs, several other breeds of dogs were included, not necessarily with comparable GRFs. Differences in age and weight distribution between groups could be other influencing factors.…”

“…The diagnostic potential of PSW has been shown to be comparable to force plate gait analysis [10], which itself has been shown to be superior to traditional visual gait examinations in regard to precision and reliability [11]. The diagnostic performance of PSW and force plate gait analysis has been extensively studied in clinically healthy dogs [12][13][14][15][16][17] and dogs with various causes of moderate or severe grades of lameness, e.g. dogs with hip dysplasia [7], cranial cruciate ligament rupture [8,18,19], experimentally-induced stifle arthritis [3], external fixation of tibial osteotomy [4], myelopathies [20], and various other orthopedic disorders [9].…”

“…Even though calculation of SIs is generally recommended [27] and extensively used for data presentation in canine PSW studies, SIs can be calculated in several different ways [8,12,15,27,29] and it is still not clear how gait symmetry is most optimally evaluated [12]. In the present study, several different symmetry indices were therefore calculated and compared in order to suggest recommendations of specific SIs for use in future PSW studies of OA in dogs.…”

Evaluation of gait character of Akbaş and Kangal shepherd dogs by using pressure-sensitive walkway

“…Also, stance phase time is directly related to velocity. When velocity increases, stance phase time decreases [25]. As each walking sample occurs at an equal rate, the presence of a difference between stance phase times is possible.…”

“…PSW system has been used in both healthy [36,25] and lame [16,17,37] dogs and the reference data have been obtained. Using especially PVF data, the data of the dogs with orthopedic problems have been compared.…”