Kinematic analysis of the gait of adult sheep during treadmill locomotion: Parameter values, allowable total error, and potential for use in evaluating spinal cord injury

We are developing a novel intradural spinal cord (SC) stimulator designed to improve the treatment of intractable pain and the sequelae of SC injury. In-vivo ovine models of neuropathic pain and moderate SC injury are being implemented for pre-clinical evaluations of this device, to be carried out via gait analysis before and after induction of the relevant condition. We extend previous studies on other quadrupeds to extract the three-dimensional kinematics of the limbs over the gait cycle of sheep walking on a treadmill. Quantitative measures of thoracic and pelvic limb movements were obtained from 17 animals. We calculated the total-error values to define the analytical performance of our motion capture system for these kinematic variables. The post- vs. pre-injury time delay between contralateral thoracic and pelvic-limb steps for normal and SC-injured sheep increased by ~ 24 s over 100 steps. The pelvic limb hoof velocity during swing phase decreased, while range of pelvic hoof elevation and distance between lateral pelvic hoof placements increased after SC injury. The kinematics measures in a single SC-injured sheep can be objectively defined as changed from the corresponding pre-injury values, implying utility of this method to assess new neuromodulation strategies for specific deficits exhibited by an individual.