Schnabl-Feichter Eva, Tichy Alexander, Bockstahler Barbara
Department for Companion Animals and Horses, University Clinic for Small Animals, Small Animal Surgery, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria.
Department for Biomedical Science, Platform Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria.
PLoS One. 2017 Mar 29;12(3):e0171946. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171946. eCollection 2017.
Gait analysis has been extensively performed in dogs and horses; however, very little is known about feline biomechanics. It was, therefore, the aim of this study to determine the coefficient of variation (CV) among three ground reaction force (GRF) measurements taken for 15 client-owned European shorthaired cats without a training period and a short acclimatisation time. Gait was measured as each cat walked across a pressure-sensitive walkway, and measurements were made three times over a multi-week period (range: 2 to 17 weeks). The parameters evaluated were peak vertical force (PFz), vertical impulse (IFz), stance phase duration (SPD), step length (SL), paw contact area (PCA) and symmetry index (SI%) of the front and hind limbs. After averaging each of the values from the three measurements, the CV and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for all parameters. PFz showed the lowest CV (~ 3%), while IFz showed the highest CV (11%) when normalised to body mass. When the GRFs were normalised to total force, the CV of PFz dropped to ~2% and that of IFz dropped to ~3%. The CV of SL and PCA were lower (6% respectively 5%) compared to the CV for SPD (10%). The SI% for both PFz and IFz were comparable to the values reported in the gait analysis literature for dogs. Results of the current study indicate that gait analysis of cats using pressure-sensitive walkways produces reliable data and is a promising approach for evaluation of lameness. The results also suggest that PFz may be a more reliable parameter than IFz and that normalisation to percent of total force may aid in interpretation of the evaluated data.
步态分析在犬类和马匹中已得到广泛开展；然而，对于猫科动物的生物力学却知之甚少。因此，本研究的目的是确定15只客户拥有的欧洲短毛猫在无训练期且适应时间较短的情况下，三次地面反作用力（GRF）测量值之间的变异系数（CV）。当每只猫走过一条压敏通道时测量步态，并在数周时间内（范围：2至17周）进行三次测量。评估的参数包括前肢和后肢的垂直峰值力（PFz）、垂直冲量（IFz）、站立相持续时间（SPD）、步长（SL）、爪接触面积（PCA）和对称指数（SI%）。在对三次测量的每个值进行平均后，计算所有参数的CV和95%置信区间（CI）。当按体重归一化时，PFz的CV最低（约3%），而IFz的CV最高（约11%）。当GRF按总力归一化时，PFz的CV降至约2%，IFz的CV降至约3%。与SPD的CV（约10%）相比，SL和PCA的CV较低（分别约为6%和5%）。PFz和IFz的SI%与步态分析文献中报道的犬类值相当。本研究结果表明，使用压敏通道对猫进行步态分析可产生可靠的数据，是评估跛行的一种有前景的方法。结果还表明，PFz可能比IFz是更可靠的参数，并且按总力百分比归一化可能有助于对评估数据的解释。
