Kansas City Canine Orthopedics Canine Objective Gait Analysis Center
At Kansas City Canine Orthopedics, our specialized canine gait analysis center uses advanced technology and data-driven methods to provide an expert assessment of a dog’s movement patterns.
This objective gait analysis for dogs provides our veterinarians with crucial, quantifiable insights—crucial for diagnosing canine gait abnormalities and medical conditions accurately and creating effective, tailored treatment plans for every canine patient. Additionally, objective data such as gait analysis are vital for high-quality clinical trials, like those performed at our own center.
How does Objective Gait Analysis for Dogs Work?
Objective gait analysis utilizes technology such as force plates and pressure-sensitive walkways to capture precise data on the gait of a dog. At Kansas City Canine Orthopedics we have two two cutting-edge systems: the Gait4Dogs and TekScan pressure-sensitive walkways. These allow for a detailed examination of your pet’s gait while they walk or trot along the walkway. We have used the Gait4Dogs walkway in numerous research studies and publications over the last 15 years and so tend to use this most commonly.
The process starts by walking or trotting a dog along the pressure-sensitive walkway. However, certain guidelines must be met for the trial to be valid. The dog needs to be focused straight ahead and must maintain a consistent pace with no running or bounding, not turning their head or pulling on the leash. Sounds easy, right? Not necessarily. In some canine gait analysis centers, the facility is a multi-purpose area that’s often full of distractions and noisy dogs, making it difficult to get accurate assessments.
At Kansas City Canine Orthopedics, however, we’ve been performing objective gait analysis and clinical trials for 15 years. Since the start, we committed ourselves to canine clinical trials as part of our mission statement. Thus, our gait analysis center—which we designed before our specialty surgical center was even built—meets the high standards of canine gait studies.
For accurate results, each dog gait analysis trial is conducted in a distraction-free environment designed to maintain a consistent pace and direction, removed from any other dogs or treatment areas so that our patients can be laser-focused while performing their walks and trots. We have elevated viewing windows so that pet owners can observe their dogs during the analysis without distracting them. Live data is displayed on a mounted double screen for real-time insights.
When the patient is trotted down the pressure sensitive walkway, all the footfalls are recorded in real time, and shown within the software (and on the large secondary screen for owner viewing) for review. The forces applied are measured by sensors within the walkway:
At this point the footfalls are visually assessed and then processed by the software for analysis, bringing one to the following screen and details. The following image shows how each footfall is record with numerous values recorded for each including, but not limited to, the stride length, the stride time, the stance time (ie duration of time the paw is in contact with the ground), velocity, and relative weight bearing of each of the dog’s limbs.
From these data, we extract those variables of greatest interest, usually the relative weight bearing of the affected limb in reference to the other limbs. As can be seen in the right of the image below, these data are then used to objectively quantify the function and weight bearing of each of the dog’s four limbs.
Key Metrics in Canine Gait Analysis
Our systems’ high-speed cameras capture multiple gait metrics for each footfall, including stride length and stance time (the time the dog’s paw is in contact with the ground). Pressure mapping technology then assesses weight-bearing across each limb and relative pressure points during the dog’s movement. This data helps identify gait abnormalities in dogs such as hypermetric gait, ataxic gait, or a two-engine gait—key indicators for conditions ranging from joint issues to neurological concerns.
Why Objective Gait Analysis is Essential for Canine Orthopedic Care
Objective canine gait analysis is an extremely valuable tool for clinical practice and for research for one simple, reason: it allows objective measurement of how a dog is moving rather than relying entirely on the owner and veterinarian’s subjective assessment of how well a dog is doing. In turn, objective analysis of dog gait is invaluable for several reasons:
- Pinpointing Pain and Lameness
Precise measurement reveals which limb may be causing pain or showing signs of lameness, such as a slight antalgic gait or bunny hopping gait. This allows us to accurately diagnose and treat conditions affecting your pet’s movement, from dog gait with hip dysplasia to subtle lameness grading concerns. - Evaluating Response to Treatment
Objective data helps measure improvements following treatments, whether surgical or non-surgical. For example, if the Gait4Dogs pressure-sensitive walkway confirms that a dog is lame on its left forelimb, but X-rays (radiographs) are inconclusive as to whether the elbow or the shoulder is the source of the pain, we can perform a diagnostic joint injection. In this scenario, we inject a small amount of local anesthetic—similar to what you’d receive when getting dental work done—into the dog’s elbow. Approximately 15 minutes later we would repeat the dog’s objective gait analysis. If we find a 15-20% or greater improvement in weight bearing on the dog’s left forelimb using the pressure-sensitive walkway, we can confidently conclude the pain and problem are within the elbow. - Supporting Clinical Trials and Evidence-Based Research
In high-quality clinical trials, objective gait data is the gold standard for measuring outcomes. By capturing detailed movement patterns, clinical trials at our center ensure treatments are safe and effective. Furthermore, clinical trials often enable pet owners to obtain advanced veterinary care that would otherwise be unavailable, and sometimes with the benefit of financial incentives provided by the study sponsor.
Kansas City Canine Orthopedics is proud to be a leader in the veterinary surgery field by staying at the forefront of canine veterinary orthopedic cutting-edge research and advocacy for the best medical treatments and veterinary surgery—and for our patients and canines around the world.
Highlights of our Gait4Dogs and TekScan Objective Gait Analysis Center:
Our canine gait analysis center leads the field in veterinary orthopedic care by offering:
- Accuracy and Reliability: High-speed cameras and pressure mapping technology ensure each dog gait analysis is accurate and free from subjective bias.
- Informed Treatment Decisions: Objective data allows us to make treatment decisions based on measurable evidence rather than subjective assessment, leading to better clinical outcomes. Specialized software in combination with the veterinary surgeon, analyzes the collected data to produce visual representations and reports.
- Continuous Monitoring: Our systems track progress over time, ensuring your pet’s recovery is on the right path. This is advantageous in cases such as patients who demonstrate slight intermittent lameness not easily tracked without advanced canine gait technology.
- Enhanced Communication: Clear, objective data fosters transparent communication between veterinarians and pet owners, empowering them to make informed decisions about their pet’s health. Incorporating objective data into veterinary surgery evaluation and clinical trial treatments enhances the overall quality of care for dogs, leading to better health prognoses and more informed veterinary surgery decisions.