Even when the hindlimb is slightly used, however, the noninflamed limb is used to push the body farther away from the surface than in healthy controls, thereby guarding the inflamed limb and decreasing the stance time of the latter.
Evolution of VI seems to be something controversial since some authors suggest that recordings of improvement in VI may suffer from a delay; their dogs tended to decrease their stance time in comparison with baseline values after non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug treatment because they were able to improve their performance.
For LOAD = 0, FL Fmax decreased parabolically, while stance time increased (Fig. 8a).
As expected, higher treadmill speeds led to decreased brake, propel, stance, and stride times and increased stride length.
Mean minimum knee flexion in stance decreased from 31° to 12° (p < 0.001) in the 49 limbs where hamstring lengthening was performed, and mean minimum hip flexion in stance decreased from 13° to 6° (p < 0.001) in the 38 limbs in which psoas lengthening had been done.
Normally, with increasing speed the decrease in stance time is relatively more pronounced than the increase in nPVF, resulting in a decrease in nVI.
These changes, in turn, resulted from linear increases in swing velocity and steep decreases in stance duration with increasing walking speed.
Spatiotemporal gait characteristics (open arena) and mechanical sensitivity (von Frey filaments) were assessed on post-operative Day 5; gait dynamics (force plate arena) and weight-bearing (incapacitance meter) were assessed on post-operative Day 6. High-speed gait characterization revealed animals with NP alone had a 5% decrease in stance time on their affected limbs on Day 5 (P ≤0.032).
In particular, the swing period was approximately constant while the stance period decreased with speed, resulting in a decreasing stepping period and duty ratio.
