Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Using smartphone sensors to detect unsteady walking in dogs
By Daniel Engelsman et al.·Published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science·2022·The Hatter Department of Marine Technologies, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel, CH·View original on DOAJ →
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Original publication title: Measurement of Canine Ataxic Gait Patterns Using Body-Worn Smartphone Sensor Data
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with ataxia, which is a condition that affects coordination and walking, was studied to see if smartphone sensors could help detect their gait problems. Researchers compared the walking patterns of 23 ataxic dogs to 55 healthy dogs using data collected from sensors placed on the dogs' backs. The results showed that the smartphone technology could accurately identify ataxia in dogs, suggesting it might be useful for diagnosing and monitoring treatment in the future. This could make it easier for pet owners and vets to track changes in a dog's condition over time.
People also search for: dog ataxia symptoms · how to diagnose dog coordination problems · smartphone app for dog gait analysis
Abstract
Ataxia is an impairment of the coordination of movement or the interaction of associated muscles, accompanied by a disturbance of the gait pattern. Diagnosis of this clinical sign, and evaluation of its severity is usually done using subjective scales during neurological examination. In this exploratory study we investigated if inertial sensors in a smart phone (3 axes of accelerometer and 3 axes of gyroscope) can be used to detect ataxia. The setting involved inertial sensor data collected by smartphone placed on the dog's back while walking in a straight line. A total of 770 walking sessions were evaluated comparing the gait of 55 healthy dogs to the one of 23 dogs with ataxia. Different machine learning techniques were used with the K-nearest neighbors technique reaching 95% accuracy in discriminating between a healthy control group and ataxic dogs, indicating potential use for smartphone apps for canine ataxia diagnosis and monitoring of treatment effect.
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Search related cases →Original publication on DOAJ: https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.912253