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Could smartphones help in assessing hindlimb lameness in horses?
The placement of the smartphone during data collection. Photo: Marunova et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061665
Smartphones with an appropriate app show promise as a useful tool in helping to evaluate hindlimb lameness in horses, according to researchers.
Eva Marunova and her fellow researchers, in a study published in the journal
Animals, reported that a smartphone successfully detected pelvic movement asymmetry, with greater levels of asymmetry recorded in horses with a greater degree of lameness.
“Although the use of a smartphone measuring only the symmetry of the pelvis cannot replace a full lameness examination, it presents a useful adjunct to subjective evaluation alone,” the study team concluded.