Quantification of equine stifle passive kinematics.
Abstract: This study aims to quantitatively characterize the passive kinematics of the healthy, soft tissue-intact equine stifle to establish an objective foundation for providing insights into the etiology of stifle disorders and developing a possible surgical treatment for stifle degenerative disease. Methods: 5 whole-horse specimens. Methods: Reflective markers with intracortical bone pins and a motion capture system were used to investigate the stifle joint kinematics. Kinematics of 5 whole-horse specimens euthanized within 2 hours were calculated for internal/external rotation, adduction/abduction, and cranial/caudal translation of the medial and lateral femoral condyles and estimated joint contact centroids as functions of joint extension angle. Results: From 41.7° to 121.6° (mean ± SD, range of motion: 107.5° ± 7.2°) of joint extension, 13° ± 3.7° of tibial external rotation and 6° ± 2.7° of adduction were observed. The lateral femoral condyle demonstrated significantly greater cranial translation than the medial during extension (23.7 mm ± 9.3 mm vs. 14.3 mm ± 7.0 mm, P = .01). No significant difference was found between the cranial/caudal translation of estimated joint contact centroids in the medial and lateral compartment (13.3 mm ± 7.7 mm vs. 16.4 mm ± 5.8 mm, P = .16). Conclusions: The findings share similarities with kinematics for human knees and sheep and dog stifles, suggesting it may be possible to translate what has been learned in human arthroplasty to treatment for equine stifles.
Publication Date: 2023-01-02 PubMed ID: 36576802DOI: 10.2460/ajvr.22.10.0171Google Scholar: Lookup
The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
- Journal Article
Summary
This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.
This research investigates the passive movements of a healthy horse’s stifle joint, intending to provide valuable data to understand stifle diseases and develop possible surgery treatments.
Objective and Methodology
- The study aimed to quantitatively examine the passive movements (kinematics) in a healthy, soft tissue-intact horse stifle joint. This investigation is intended to offer a scientific basis to understand the origin (etiology) of stifle ailments and to enable the development of surgical treatment for the deterioration (degenerative disease) of stifle joints in horses.
- Five whole-horse specimens that were put to sleep (euthanized) within 2 hours were used for the experiment. The team used reflective markers with intracortical bone pins (inner bone pins) and a motion capture system to dissect the kinematics of the stifle joint. Specifically, the team computed internal/external rotation, sideward movements (adduction/abduction), and forward/backward movements (cranial/caudal translation) of the medial and lateral sides of the thigh bones (femoral condyles).
- The estimated joint contact centroids, which is the averaged position where the joint parts touch each other, were computed as functions of the joint’s extension angle.
Findings
- Between 41.7° to 121.6°(average joint extension movement range), an external rotation of the shinbone (tibia) and sideward movement (adduction) were observed. The outer side of the thigh bone (the lateral femoral condyle) exhibited significantly more forward movement (cranial translation) than the inner side (the medial) during extension (23.7mm vs. 14.3mm).
- There was no significant difference between the forward/backward movement of the joint contact centroids in the medial and lateral compartments, which means there is balance in how the overall stifle joint moves.
Conclusions
- The results of this study have similar kinematics with human knees and stifles of sheep and dogs. This similarity implies that the knowledge gained from human joint replacement surgery (arthroplasty) may be applicable for treatment of horse stifle joints.
Cite This Article
APA
He H, Palm-Vlasak LS, Chen C, Banks SA, Biedrzycki AH.
(2023).
Quantification of equine stifle passive kinematics.
Am J Vet Res, 84(2), ajvr.22.10.0171.
https://doi.org/10.2460/ajvr.22.10.0171 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Large Animal Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
- Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
- Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
- Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
- Large Animal Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Biomechanical Phenomena
- Horses
- Movement
- Range of Motion, Articular
- Stifle / physiology
Citations
This article has been cited 1 times.- Shaffer SK, Medjaouri O, Swenson B, Eliason T, Nicolella DP. A Markerless Approach for Full-Body Biomechanics of Horses. Animals (Basel) 2025 Aug 5;15(15).
Use Nutrition Calculator
Check if your horse's diet meets their nutrition requirements with our easy-to-use tool Check your horse's diet with our easy-to-use tool
Talk to a Nutritionist
Discuss your horse's feeding plan with our experts over a free phone consultation Discuss your horse's diet over a phone consultation
Submit Diet Evaluation
Get a customized feeding plan for your horse formulated by our equine nutritionists Get a custom feeding plan formulated by our nutritionists
