Changes in Head and Pelvic Movement Symmetry after Diagnostic Anaesthesia: Interactions between Subjective Judgement Categories and Commonly Applied Blocks

• Published in: Animals (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 24; p. 3769
• Main Authors: Pfau, Thilo, Clark, Kaitlyn Sophia, Bolt, David M, Lai, Jaclyn Samantha, Perrier, Melanie, Rhodes, Jessica Bryce, Smith, Roger K, Fiske-Jackson, Andrew
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-12-2023
• Subjects: Analysis; Anesthesia; diagnostic anaesthesia; Discriminant analysis; horse; Horses; Investigations; lameness; movement symmetry; Pelvis; Sensors; Symmetry; trot; Veterinarians; Veterinary colleges; horse; lameness; movement symmetry; trot; diagnostic anaesthesia
• ISSN: 2076-2615; 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani13243769

Limited evidence is available relating gait changes to diagnostic anaesthesia. We investigated associations between specific movement patterns and diagnostic anaesthesia of different anatomical structures in a retrospective analysis. Referral-level lameness cases were included with the following criteria: presence of diagnostic anaesthesia of a forelimb and/or hind limb; subjective efficacy classified as "negative", "partially positive", or "positive"; quantitative gait data available from inertial measurement units. Gait changes were calculated for three forelimb (palmar digital, abaxial sesamoid, low 4-point nerve block) and five hind limb diagnostic blocks (tarso-metatarsal, metatarsophalangeal joint block, deep branch of lateral plantar, low 6-point, abaxial sesamoid nerve block). Mixed models (random factor "case", fixed factors "diagnostic anaesthesia type" and "efficacy", two-way interaction) assessed the head and pelvic movement (
< 0.05, Bonferroni correction). Four parameters were significantly affected by forelimb anaesthesia (N = 265) (all
≤ 0.031) and six by hind limb anaesthesia (N = 342) efficacy (all
≤ 0.001). All head movement parameters and pelvic push-off asymmetry were significantly affected by the two-way interaction after forelimb anaesthesia (all
≤ 0.023) and two pelvic movement symmetry parameters by the two-way interaction after hind limb anaesthesia (all
≤ 0.020). There are interactions between block efficacy and type resulting in changes in weight-bearing and push-off-associated head and pelvic movement symmetry after diagnostic anaesthesia.