Frontiers in Veterinary Science (Jul 2021)

A Comparison Between Body Weight-Supported Treadmill Training and Conventional Over-Ground Training in Dogs With Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury

  • Ângela Martins,
  • Ângela Martins,
  • Ângela Martins,
  • Débora Gouveia,
  • Ana Cardoso,
  • Inês Viegas,
  • Óscar Gamboa,
  • António Ferreira,
  • António Ferreira

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.597949
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8

Abstract

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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 (n = 10) and the COGI group (n = 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 (p < 0.001) and between the two groups (p < 0.001). In particular with focus on T1 to T3 a two-way repeated measures ANOVA was performed and similar results were obtained (p = 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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