Kinematics of healthy American Pit Bull Terrier dogs

Abstract

A visual clinical gait analysis is useful, however, it may overlook small, but important, details about the movement, as well as differences between the normal and pathological locomotion. The branch of mechanics that describes the spatial and temporal components of motion is called kinematics, providing quantitative data regarding linear and angular motion. The objective of this study was to establish kinematic gait data of healthy American Pit Bull Terriers and to contribute to the understanding of the locomotion. We evaluated the articular and pelvic angles, and the spatiotemporal variables for walking and trotting from eleven dogs with no previous history of joint and musculoskeletal diseases. Twenty reflective markers were positioned at the anatomical points of interest. The animals walked and trotted in a linear space, led by the same researcher. The kinematic data were collected through optoelectronic cameras and analysed by motion analysis software. The movements analysed during the gait phases were the flexion, extension, range of motion (ROM), angle at the moment of the support phase, stride length and velocity. Comparing the angles between walking and trotting, there were more expressive differences for the pelvic limb joints. There was no difference between the left and right sides at all of the joint angles of the pelvic limbs during walking and trotting. Therefore, the movement of the pelvic limb is symmetrical in both trotting and walking. Our results present reference values for healthy American Pit Bull Terriers, having clinical relevance for studies of dogs with musculoskeletal diseases.