Summary
Decreased carpal range of motion is a common sequel to both disease and injury of
the canine carpus; it is also encountered following therapeutic endeavours such as
taping, bandaging, and arthrodesis. It was the aim of this study to define alterations
of movement in dogs with artificially restricted carpal range of motion (ROM) by use
of non-invasive, two-dimensional, computer-assisted kinematic gait analysis. Carpal
taping was performed using strips of five centimetre adhesive porous bandage tape
placed in circumferential, overlapping strips from mid-radius to just proximal to
the metacarpal pad. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in angular displacement were
observed, not only in the motion-restricted carpus, but also in the ipsilateral shoulder
and contralateral stifle, demonstrating the need for monitoring of other joints when
carpal ROM is restricted unilaterally either due to pathology, coaptation or arthrodesis.
Keywords
Kinematic analysis - biomechanics - carpal joint - coaptation - gait - canine