Inter-evaluator and Intra-evaluator Reliability of a Software Program Used to Extract Kinematic Variables Obtained by an Extremity-Mounted Inertial Measurement Unit System in Sound Horses at the Trot Under Soft and Hard Ground Conditions and Treadmill Exercise.

Julia Schwarz,Beatriz Vidondo,Miriam Sprick,Melina C Schöpfer,Antonio M Cruz,Ugo E Maninchedda

doi:10.3389/fvets.2021.595455

Abstract

Objective: To assess the inter-evaluator and intra-evaluator reliability of a software program used to extract kinematic variables by a commercially available extremity-mounted inertial measurement unit system in sound horses at the trot under soft and hard ground conditions and treadmill exercise.Animals: Thirty adult, sound and healthy French Montagne stallions.Procedures: Data collection was performed with six IMUs strapped to the distal, metacarpal, metatarsal and tibial regions of every horse. Per surface (treadmill, soft and hard ground) 10 stallions were trotted three times. Prior to the analysis done by six evaluators (three experienced, three inexperienced) the data was blinded and copied three times. For every analysis a minimum of five strides had to be selected. To assess the intra- and inter-evaluator reliability a selection of gait variables was used to calculate intra and inter correlation coefficients (ICCs) as well as variance partitioning coefficients (VPCs).Results: All of the tested gait variables showed high levels of reliability. There was no mentionable difference considering the correlation coefficients between the intra and inter reliability as well as between the three different surfaces. VPCs showed that the factor horse is by far the most responsible for any appearing variance. The experience of the evaluator had no influence on the results.Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: The software program tested in this study has a high inter- and intra-evaluator reliability under the chosen conditions for the selected variables and acts independent of the ground situation and the experience of the evaluator. On the condition of a correct application it has the potential to become a clinically relevant and reliable gait analysis tool.

Highlights

Visual lameness examination is one of the most common tasks carried out by equine veterinarians and relies largely upon the experience and expert knowledge of the veterinarian
Over the last years the number of commercially available portable electronic systems capable to detect some aspects of equine gait has increased
The data collection with the Inertial measurement units (IMU) was performed in an environment which was familiar to the horses and they were all accustomed to work on the treadmill

Summary

Introduction

Visual lameness examination is one of the most common tasks carried out by equine veterinarians and relies largely upon the experience and expert knowledge of the veterinarian. Over the last years the number of commercially available portable electronic systems capable to detect some aspects of equine gait has increased. Due to their reduced size and simplicity in utilization they have become clinically applicable and expensive research laboratories are no longer the only option to perform gait analysis and lameness detection [4]. Inertial measurement units (IMU) consist of a combination of accelerometers and gyroscopes and often magnetometers. They are able to derive acceleration, orientation and indirectly velocity [5]. The field of application is widely spread and range from navigation systems and control of unmanned ground vehicles or aerial systems [5] to motion analysis [6] and control of artificial limbs [7]

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Results

Conclusion