Force plate gait analysis and stifle surgery

Re: Force plate gait analysis and stifle surgery

J G Wray — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:32:56 GMT

[quote user="Malcolm Ness"]There is so much that is still not known about cruciate disease and surgery and while force-plates and Gaitrite analysis can help shed a little light, they won't answer many of the big questions.[/quote]

Ta Good man

JGW

Re: Force plate gait analysis and stifle surgery

Malcolm Ness — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 11:20:58 GMT

Sorry, I missed this initially.

The Gaitrite carpets have been around for a while but they haven't really caught on in the world of vet orthopaedics. There have several presentations at conferences (ECVS, ACVS and VOS) over the years and I think one or two published papers. This device is different from a force plate.

To my knowledge there have been no decent longitudinal studies done on cruciate surgery cases. There have certainly been no good quality comparative studies published.

A significant problem with all of these devices is that they are reporting on a surrogate end-point. The real endpoint of cruciate surgery is the abolition of lameness and the return to full function. Force plates, in particular, have seduced a generation of academics, first because of their perceived objectivity and second because they generate so much data they are a statisticians wet-dream. However, data collection (i.e. the use of the force plate) is something of an art involving training of the dog and "discarding" of some data-sets. Notwithstanding that, the biggest limitation is the assumption that a dogs ability to walk, or trot slowly, across a force plate platform is an effective and reliable indicator of its athletic function and overall "soundness" is fantasy. I am quite confident that I (fat, unfit and over 50) could walk just as normally across a force plate as could Usain Bolt. To infer on that basis that I could match him over a hundred metres would be foolhardy.

There is so much that is still not known about cruciate disease and surgery and while force-plates and Gaitrite analysis can help shed a little light, they won't answer many of the big questions.

Re: Force plate gait analysis and stifle surgery

J G Wray — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 11:09:15 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Dennison"]

Can't remember the chap's name now, but there is an anatomist at Bristol that does a huge amount into canine gait analysis. American, think his first name is Bob...

He'd be the person to ask

[/quote]

Thanks for this. I was wondering particularly about whether any of our illustrious orthopaedic surgical protagonists use this post op. Anyone care to comment?

JGW

Re: Force plate gait analysis and stifle surgery

Anthony Dennison — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 10:42:42 GMT

Can't remember the chap's name now, but there is an anatomist at Bristol that does a huge amount into canine gait analysis. American, think his first name is Bob...

He'd be the person to ask

Re: Force plate gait analysis and stifle surgery

grumpyoldman — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 17:17:41 GMT

Its only a superficial subjective assessment but I have always thought TPLO returns to normal movement quicker .