I don't know about this study, but one of my 2 year olds is going to be involved in a study, at Cornell, on gaiting and ACL surgery. Here's the info.
I am a fourth year veterinary student at Cornell working on a clinical
research project with one of our small animal surgeons that will
ultimately be generating a model to determine the optimal surgical
technique for an individual dog that has torn the cruciate ligament (ACL)
in their knee (a common injury in our larger dogs). We are looking for
orthopedically normal dogs to participate in this and are wondering if any
of the dogs in your group would be willing to participate. We will give
them lots of love while they are here with us:)! There are no breed
requirements for this study (any purebred or mix over 35-40 lbs can
participate). A subset of this study will be looking at purebred dogs,
especially less common medium to large breeds such as (but not limited to)
Mastiffs, Rottweilers, Akitas, Bernese Mountain dogs, Newfoundlands,
German Shorthair Pointers, Springer Spaniels, Whippets, Italian
Greyhounds, Standard Poodles, Borzoi, Afghan Hounds, and Salukis. The
initial part of this study involves generating a database of "normal" dog
gait characteristics to compare to dogs undergoing ACL surgery.
To be included, we ask that the dogs have no history of arthritis, trauma
(e.g. broken leg), or other joint problems (e.g. elbow, knee or hip
problems such as a torn ACL or hip/elbow dysplasia). From this point, the
dogs will undergo a complete physical and orthopedic exam by one of our
orthopedic surgeons. We will then conduct a gait analysis on your dog
using video and pressure plates that record the forces generated by their
steps. This analysis involves walking and trotting across a platform
containing the hidden plates. This information will be used to generate
our database for the "normal" canine gait. If no problems are detected on
exam or gait analysis, your dog will move on to the next phase where hip
X-rays will be taken under sedation to rule out asymptomatic hip dysplasia
(during sedation from the initial exam). Your dog will need to stay at
the hospital for most of the day to facilitate all of the "events". The
entire visit is free of charge (all is paid by the study).
If this is something you and your dog(s) are interested in, please email
me (sac72@cornell.edu) to arrange a time to bring in the dog(s). Please
feel free to email with any questions or additional information.
