Kinematic changes in dairy cows with induced, unilateral forelimb lameness during straight line walk

Abstract

Early detection of lameness in dairy herds is essential to enable timely treatment of affected animals, thereby avoiding unnecessary costs and animal suffering. Since claw diseases most commonly affect the hind claws, specific kinematic changes in cows with forelimb lameness have not been investigated. However, in-depth knowledge on movement pattern alterations occurring during lameness of varying sources is essential to develop efficient lameness detection tools. In this study, 27 gait analysis trials consisting of > 2 000 strides were collected from 12 clinically sound dairy cows. The cows were equipped with nine body-mounted inertial measurement units (IMUs) and contributed with one baseline trial and one or two lameness trials each. A lameness induction method causing increased claw pressure was used to introduce mild, reversible, unilateral forelimb lameness. From the IMU data, 31 limb-and upper body movement parameters, mainly focusing on motion symmetry, were computed for each stride. Baseline and lameness data were compared in linear mixed models, where between-cow variability was accounted for. Twenty-two movement parameters differed between the two conditions (P

Keywords

Biomechanics; Bovine; Gait analysis; Inertial measurement unit; Movement asymmetry

Published in

Animal
2025, volume: 19, number: 5, article number: 101482
Publisher: ELSEVIER

SLU Authors

• Leclercq, Anna

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Ask, Katrina

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Mellbin, Ylva

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Byström, Anna

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Söderlind, Maja

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Telezhenko, Evgenij

  • Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Bergsten, Christer

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Haubro Andersen, Pia

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Rhodin, Marie

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Hernlund, Elin

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Medical Bioscience

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2025.101482

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/142449