This study aimed to explore the effect of external mechanical perturbations on postural stability (PS) in dogs using the body center of pressure (COP). Thirteen sound adult dogs were included in this study. PS was tested during quiet standing on a pressure measurement plate. The conditions included a standard standing measurement and external mechanical perturbations conducted using six settings on a motorized training platform with different intensities of speed and amplitude. Measurement conditions were compared using linear mixed-effects models, followed by multiple comparisons using Sidak’s alpha correction procedure. Compared with the standing measurement, external mechanical perturbations resulted in a significant increase in almost all COP parameters, indicating a challenge for the PS. Furthermore, an increase in amplitude had a greater effect than an increase in speed, whereas the combination of the highest intensities of amplitude and speed was not well tolerated by the dogs. The craniocaudal COP displacement was significantly greater than the mediolateral COP displacement during standing measurement and conditions with a small amplitude, whereas no significant difference was observed during settings with an increased amplitude. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the effects of a balance training device in dogs. Therefore, the intensity of the training programs on motorized platforms or similar devices can be controlled by the wobbling amplitude of the platform.

This study investigates the impact of visual input and aging on postural stability (PS) in dogs by analyzing center-of-pressure (COP) parameters during static posturography under sighted (EO) and blindfolded (EC) conditions. Twenty adult (75% of fractional lifespan) dogs, free from orthopedic, neurological, or visual impairments, were assessed using a pressure measurement plate. While no significant differences were found between adult and senior dogs under standard EO conditions, blindfolding revealed age-related disparities. Senior dogs exhibited significantly higher craniocaudal displacement and support surface values compared to adult dogs, indicating a greater reliance on visual input for sagittal stability. Conversely, adult dogs exhibited a reduction in postural sway during EC conditions, indicating an adaptive shift toward greater reliance on somatosensory input. These findings highlight diminished sensory integration and adaptability in senior dogs, correlating with aging-related declines in proprioception and sensory processing. This research underscores the critical role of vision in canine PS, particularly in older individuals, and emphasizes the need for targeted interventions, such as balance training, to enhance sensory integration and mitigate fall risk in aging dogs. Future studies should explore dynamic and multimodal challenges to further elucidate compensatory mechanisms.

Postural stability requires an interaction between cognitive, perceptual, sensory, and motor functions. Thus, impairment in any of these systems may affect postural balance. This study assessed the effect of visual input and surface slope on postural stability. The study was conducted on healthy participants, 11 females and 11 males who were 24–34 years of age. They were asked to perform still upright bipedal standing on flat and +/−20° sloped surfaces with eyes open (EO) and closed (EC). Six center of pressure (COP) parameters were measured by posturography. A significant relationship was observed between COP parameters, standing conditions, and body mass index. Gender had no significant effect on the COP. The loss of visual input within each standing condition did not affect the COP parameters. In contrast, differences were observed between standing on a flat surface and uphill with EC and between standing on a flat surface and downhill with EC and EO. When the participants were standing on inclined surfaces, the loss of vision significantly increased the postural instability. Young healthy adults demonstrated the greatest difficulty in standing uphill with EC. This was followed by standing downhill with EC and standing downhill with EO.

Postural stability (PS) is essential for functional mobility and rehabilitation. While posturography and center of pressure (COP) parameters are commonly used to assess PS, little is known about the effects of proprioceptive training programs in dogs. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a 4-week training program in dogs on a motorized proprioceptive training platform which creates a curved movement in the 3 planes of space that follows Elispheric® trajectories (Imoove-vet®, Allcare Innovations, France). Twenty dogs were divided into a training group and a control group. Five conventional COP parameters were measured under 4 different conditions (neutral, uphill, downhill, perturbed standing) pre- and post-intervention. The primary outcomes included statistically significant improvements in craniocaudal (CCD%), mediolateral (MLD%) displacement, and support surface (SS%). Dogs participating in the training group showed statistically significant reductions in COP excursions post-intervention, specifically CCD% during perturbed standing, MLD% during downhill standing, and SS% during uphill standing. Compared to the control group, the training group showed a statistically significant reduction in CCD% and SS% during uphill standing, and MLD% during downhill standing post-intervention. No statistically significant changes were observed, and effect sizes remained below Cohen’s d < 0.5 in the control group. In contrast, large training effects (d > 0.8) for all significantly decreased parameters were found in the training group. The results support the effectiveness of proprioceptive training in improving PS specifically under biomechanically challenging conditions highlighting the relevance of including these tasks in PS assessment and training protocols. Further research is warranted in orthopedically and neurologically diseased populations to explore therapeutic applications.

This article investigates the determination of the optimal cutoff frequency of smoothing filters for motion data based on kinetic energy. The underlying hypothesis is that an upper limit of kinetic energy can serve as a basis for setting the cutoff frequency. To illustrate this, postural sway in standing dogs was analyzed based on the movement of their center of pressure (COP). The method was tested on 12 clinically healthy dogs that met specific inclusion criteria. The results show that a cutoff frequency of 6 Hz, derived from an individual kinetic energy calculated from the COP velocity of 5 cm/s, provides the best representation of postural sway, while 10 Hz filtered data was sufficient in only 6 of 12 dogs, and unfiltered data unsuitable in 12 of 12 dogs. The study highlights that the choice of cutoff frequency is crucial for data quality and proposes a biologically motivated method based on kinetic energy. This method could lead to more precise and meaningful results in motion analysis.

Corrigendum on: Lutonsky C, Peham C, Mucha M, Reicher B, Gaspar R, Tichy A and Bockstahler B (2023)External mechanical perturbations challenge postural stability in dogs. Front. Vet. Sci. 10:1249951. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1249951 In the published article, there was an error in form of a distortion of words concerning the results of one comparison (COP-MedLat vs. COP-CranCaud). While the tables (Table 4 andTable 5), discussion and conclusion offer the right findings, the abstract and conclusion state the opposing.(1) Abstract A correction has been made to [Abstract]. This sentence previously stated: "The mediolateral COP displacement was significantly greater than the craniocaudal COP displacement during standing measurement and conditions with a small amplitude, whereas no significant difference was observed during settings with an increased amplitude."The corrected sentence appears below: "The craniocaudal COP displacement was significantly greater than the mediolateral COP displacement during standing measurement and conditions with a small amplitude, whereas no significant difference was observed during settings with an increased amplitude."(2) Results A correction has been made to [Results], [Center of pressure], [3.3]. This sentence previously stated: "The COP displacement was significantly larger in COP-MedLat than in COP-CranCaud during standing measurement, Speed-20%, and Speed-30%, whereas no significant differences were observed during the remaining conditions (Table 5)."The corrected sentence appears below: "The COP displacement was significantly larger in COP-CranCaud than COP-MedLat in during standing measurement, Speed-20%, and Speed-30%, whereas no significant differences were observed during the remaining conditions (Table 5)."Since the word distortion does not affect the Table stating this result nor the discussion, we are confident this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in a significant way when the article is read in full. The authors apologize for this error, which unfortunately was not found by any authors or reviewers prior to or during the peer reviewing process. Further, all research that cited this article since publication date does not include this mistake and is therefore a sole problem of this publication. However, since the mistake is included in the abstract, we kindly ask to change the word distortion in the original article, as the abstract is frequently read. We provided the original publication and highlighted the changes in the document.