A Method for Quantifying Back Flexion/Extension from Three Inertial Measurement Units Mounted on a Horse’s Withers, Thoracolumbar Region, and Pelvis
Chloé Hatrisse,
Claire Macaire,
Camille Hebert,
Sandrine Hanne-Poujade,
Emeline De Azevedo,
Fabrice Audigié,
Khalil Ben Mansour,
Frederic Marin,
Pauline Martin,
Neila Mezghani,
Henry Chateau,
Laurence Chèze
Affiliations
Chloé Hatrisse
Laboratoire de Biomécanique et Mécanique des Chocs (LBMC) UMR_T 9406, Université Gustave Eiffel, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 69622 Lyon, France
Claire Macaire
CIRALE, USC 957 BPLC, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, 94700 Maisons-Alfort, France
Camille Hebert
Labcom LIM-ENVA, LIM France, 24300 Nontron, France
Sandrine Hanne-Poujade
Labcom LIM-ENVA, LIM France, 24300 Nontron, France
Emeline De Azevedo
CIRALE, USC 957 BPLC, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, 94700 Maisons-Alfort, France
Fabrice Audigié
CIRALE, USC 957 BPLC, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, 94700 Maisons-Alfort, France
Khalil Ben Mansour
Laboratoire de BioMécanique et BioIngénierie (UMR CNRS 7338), Centre of Excellence for Human and Animal Movement Biomechanics (CoEMoB), Université de Technologie de Compiègne (UTC), Alliance Sorbonne Université, 60200 Compiègne, France
Frederic Marin
Laboratoire de BioMécanique et BioIngénierie (UMR CNRS 7338), Centre of Excellence for Human and Animal Movement Biomechanics (CoEMoB), Université de Technologie de Compiègne (UTC), Alliance Sorbonne Université, 60200 Compiègne, France
Pauline Martin
Labcom LIM-ENVA, LIM France, 24300 Nontron, France
Neila Mezghani
Laboratoire d’Innovation Ouverte en Technologies de la Santé (LIO), Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montréal, QC H2X 0A9, Canada
Henry Chateau
CIRALE, USC 957 BPLC, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, 94700 Maisons-Alfort, France
Laurence Chèze
Laboratoire de Biomécanique et Mécanique des Chocs (LBMC) UMR_T 9406, Université Gustave Eiffel, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 69622 Lyon, France
Back mobility is a criterion of well-being in a horse. Veterinarians visually assess the mobility of a horse’s back during a locomotor examination. Quantifying it with on-board technology could be a major breakthrough to help them. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of a method of quantifying the back mobility of horses from inertial measurement units (IMUs) compared to motion capture (MOCAP) as a gold standard. Reflective markers and IMUs were positioned on the withers, eighteenth thoracic vertebra, and pelvis of four sound horses. The horses performed a walk and trot in straight lines and performed a gallop in circles on a soft surface. The developed method, based on the three IMUs, consists of calculating the flexion/extension angle of the thoracolumbar region. The IMU method showed a mean bias of 0.8° (±1.5°) (mean (±SD)) and 0.8° (±1.4°), respectively, for the flexion and extension movements, all gaits combined, compared to the MOCAP method. The results of this study suggest that the developed method has a similar accuracy to that of MOCAP, opening up possibilities for easy measurements under field conditions. Future studies will need to examine the correlations between these biomechanical measures and clinicians’ visual assessment of back mobility defects.
