Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Treadmill vs over-ground training for dogs with spinal injuries
By Martins, Ângela et al.·Published in Frontiers in veterinary science·2021·bida Veterinary Hospital-Animal Rehabilitation Center·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: A Comparison Between Body Weight-Supported Treadmill Training and Conventional Over-Ground Training in Dogs With Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with incomplete spinal cord injuries underwent two types of rehabilitation: body weight-supported treadmill training (BWSTT) and conventional over-ground training (COGI). After 7 weeks, 90% of the dogs showed significant improvement in their ability to walk, and all regained bladder control. The dogs in the BWSTT group recovered faster, with all of them regaining mobility in about 4.6 weeks, compared to 6.1 weeks for the COGI group. This suggests that BWSTT may be a more effective option for helping dogs recover from spinal injuries.
People also search for: dog spinal cord injury recovery · body weight treadmill training for dogs · dog bladder control after injury
Abstract
In human medicine there was no evidence registered of a significant difference in recovery between body weight-supported treadmill training (BWSTT) and conventional over-ground (COGI). There isn't any similar study in veterinary medicine. Thus, this study aimed to compare the locomotor recovery obtained in incomplete SCI (T11-L3 Hansen type I) post-surgical dogs following BWSTT or COGI protocols, describing their evolution during 7 weeks in regard to OFS classifications. At admission, dogs were blindly randomized in two groups but all were subjected to the same protocol (underwater treadmill training) for the first 2 weeks. After, they were divided in the BWSTT group (= 10) and the COGI group (= 10) for the next 2 weeks, where they performed different training. In both groups locomotor training was accompanied by functional electrical stimulation (FES) protocols. Results reported statistically significant differences between all OFS evaluations time-points (< 0.001) and between the two groups (< 0.001). In particular with focus on T1 to T3 a two-way repeated measures ANOVA was performed and similar results were obtained (= 0.007). Functional recovery was achieved in 90% (17/19) of all dogs and 100% recovered bladder function. The BWSTT group showed 100% (10/10) recovery within a mean time of 4.6 weeks, while the COGI group had 78% (7/9) within 6.1 weeks. Therefore, BWSTT leads to a faster recovery with a better outcome in general.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34277746/