Digital animation gauges lameness

Columbia, Mo.- Hollywood sank the Titanic on the big screen withthe same technology that may transform treatment of equine lameness, researchersat the University of Missouri-Columbia (UM) report.

Veterinarians may be able to objectively measure lameness in horses byapplying digital technology scientifically through a process called kinematicmotion analysis.

The analysis has been applied for about the last 25 years in capacitiessuch as sports medicine and rehabilitation.

UM researchers Dr. David A. Wilson and Dr. Kevin Keegan, in the Collegeof Veterinary Medicine, are applying this same analysis technology, whichbears little resemblance to the more familiar force-plate analysis, to horses.

"In the past, we've relied on intuition and experience to do lamenessevaluation, and the problem with that method is often different expertswill pinpoint a different limb as the source of trouble," says Wilson,associate professor of equine veterinary medicine and surgery and co-directorof the college's teaching hospital.

"Prior research has been very subjective, based on human vision,experience and judgment," Wilson says. "This new method is basedon objective scientific measurements."

In the kinematic motion analysis process, the entire horse's motion isstudied, explains Keegan, associate professor of equine veterinary medicineand surgery. "What it involves is analyzing quantitatively the movementof the animal."

The kinematic procedure can be used to measure stride, range and variabilityin the length of the stride.

"The most important thing we have found out is that this technologyis very accurate and precise at measuring lameness," says Keegan. "Thatdidn't used to be the case. The previous technology had a lot of errors.The resolution wasn't very good."

Find out more about this up and coming procedure in the June issue ofDVM Newsmagazine.