title: Treadmill measures of ambulation rates in ovine models of spinal cord injury and neuropathic pain.
abstract: Our laboratories are developing treadmill-based gait analysis employing sheep to investigate potential efficacy of intra-dural spinal cord stimulation in the treatment of spinal cord injury and neuropathic pain. As part of efforts to establish the performance characteristics of the experimental arrangement, this study measured the treadmill speed via a tachometer, video belt-marker timing and ambulation-rate observations of the sheep. The data reveal a 0.1-0.3% residual drift in the baseline (unloaded) treadmill speed which increases with loading, but all three approaches agree on final speed to within 1.7%, at belt speeds of ≈ 4 km/h. Using the tachometer as the standard, the estimated upper limit on uncertainty in the video belt-marker approach is ± 0.18 km h(-1) and the measured uncertainty is ± 0.15 km h(-1). Employment of the latter method in determining timing differences between contralateral hoof strikes by the sheep suggests its utility in assessing severity of SCI and responses to therapeutic interventions.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences , Iowa State University , Ames , IA , USA ;
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Safayi
authors.affiliation: b Department of Neurosurgery , University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics , Iowa City , IA , USA ;
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: b Department of Neurosurgery , University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics , Iowa City , IA , USA ;
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: a Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences , Iowa State University , Ames , IA , USA ;
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Shivapour
authors.affiliation: a Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences , Iowa State University , Ames , IA , USA ;
authors.forename: T F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Oelfke
authors.affiliation: a Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences , Iowa State University , Ames , IA , USA ;
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.affiliation: a Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences , Iowa State University , Ames , IA , USA ;
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Klarmann Staudt
authors.affiliation: b Department of Neurosurgery , University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics , Iowa City , IA , USA ;
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abode-Iyamah
authors.affiliation: b Department of Neurosurgery , University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics , Iowa City , IA , USA ;
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: a Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences , Iowa State University , Ames , IA , USA ;
authors.forename: N D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Jeffery
authors.affiliation: c Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation , University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics , Iowa City , IA , USA ;
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Fredericks
authors.affiliation: d Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering , University of Virginia , Charlottesville , VA , USA.
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Gillies
authors.affiliation: b Department of Neurosurgery , University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics , Iowa City , IA , USA ;
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Howard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012756:Sheep; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016138:Walking / Q000145:classification* / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Spinal cord; ambulation rates; in vivo models; spinal cord stimulator; treadmill