Are you curious about how scientists study the way animals walk? Traditionally, force plates have been the go-to method, but they have their limitations. This study delves into an alternative: using treadmills with sensors. By comparing treadmill walking to regular walking and assessing its efficacy in measuring dog movements, this research offers intriguing insights. Testing twelve dogs, the study found that treadmill walking closely matched regular walking in key measurements, suggesting that treadmills could be a reliable tool for understanding canine locomotion.
Abstract
Force plates are considered the gold standard for kinetic gait analysis, benefiting from measuring three-dimensional ground reaction forces. Nevertheless, the major disadvantage is that many trials are required during overground locomotion to capture adequate single-limb contacts. Additionally, the dogs slightly change velocities during overground walking, influencing kinetic and kinematic gait parameters. An alternative is using an instrumented treadmill that benefits from capturing many steady-state gait cycles at a constant speed quickly. The goal of this study was (1) to compare overground with treadmill locomotion and (2) to compare the instrumented treadmill with force plates for dogs kinetics measurements.
Twelve client-owned dogs were measured during treadmill trotting while the treadmill was placed on force plates. Additionally, the dogs were measured during trotting along an alley over eight force plates. Bland-Altman plots, Pearson’s (r), and concordance correlation coefficients (rc) were computed to explore the relative and general agreement between the measurement methods and overground and treadmill trotting.
Overground and treadmill trotting gave an excellent agreement in peak vertical forces and impulses (r > 0.9, rc > 0.9). The instrumented treadmill showed similar force-time curves in shape and size and provided an excellent congruity for all parameters compared to force plates (r > 0.8, rc > 0.8).
As a reliable tool in measuring key gait parameters, the instrumented treadmill may benefit from fast and reproducible data comparable to overground trotting.
Contact info@kinasmedical.com to request information about the Zebris Canidgait Gait Analysis Treadmill available from Kinas Medical!
