Premium
Skin Displacement in the Equine Neck
Author(s) -
Bergh A,
Egenvall A,
Olsson E,
Uhlhorn M,
Rhodin M
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
equine veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.82
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 2042-3306
pISSN - 0425-1644
DOI - 10.1111/evj.12267_110
Subject(s) - sagittal plane , displacement (psychology) , medicine , anatomy , kinematics , vertebra , radiography , physics , radiology , psychology , classical mechanics , psychotherapist
Kinematic studies, using reflective skin markers, are commonly used to investigate equine neck motion in equitation science and for rehabilitation purposes. In order to interpret the registrations accurately, the degree of skin displacement has been described for the limbs and back, but not for the neck. The aim of the present study was to investigate the degree of skin displacement in the equine neck. Methods Radiopaque skin markers were applied to the skin over the first six cervical vertebrae of six healthy horses. Radiographs were taken in three standardized neck positions in the sagittal plane: control (horizontal neck), “on the bit” and “nose to carpus”. The scales of the images were normalized and calculation of skin displacement was performed by use of a coordinate system, dividing the displacement into measurements on an x‐axis parallel to the vertebra's longitudinal axis and a y‐axis perpendicular to the x‐axis. The non‐parametric paired W ilcoxon rank test was employed to study the differences in distances in x‐ and y‐directions, and statistical significance was set to P<0.05. Results Between control and “nose to carpus” positions, there were significant differences in the marker locations, related to the underlying vertebra, in x‐line for C 1–6 , and in y‐line for C 3–6 . The differences in marker locations were between 3 ± 9 and 44 ± 14 mm, depending on the marker. Conclusions The outcome of this study indicates that skin displacement is an important factor to consider when investigating equine neck motion with skin marker methodology. Ethical Animal Research The study was approved by a local Ethical Committee on Animal Experiments ( U ppsala, S weden), with written consent from the horse owners. Sources of funding: none. Competing interests: none.