Conference Paper

Surface electromyography (sEMG) is a non-invasive diagnostic technique used to record and monitor the electrical activity of muscle fibers during muscle contraction, and it is widely used in human neurorehabilitation and sports medicine. Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation is lacking objective evaluation tools, which difficult validation of rehabilitation protocols and research. The present pilot study aims to develop and validate an innovative sEMG device for non-invasive evaluation of the muscular activity of the paraspinal muscles in dogs affected by intervertebral disc disease IVDD. At AniCura Restelo Veterinary Center, the sEMG device was applied in the paraspinal region between the T12 and L2 vertebrae of healthy dogs used as control (n=2), and a dog affected by IVDD diagnosed by CT scan (n=1). Signal acquisition was performed in the following conditions: accelerating treadmill (A), standing on a wobbler board (B), decelerating treadmill (D), stable walking treadmill (N), standing still (P), animal walking on a treadmill (N), standing up (P) and front paws on a donut ball isometric position (K). The sEMG device was able to detect differences in amplitude (mV) and frequency (Hz) between healthy control group and IVDD group, as summarized in the table. The considered spectral analysis limit was 500Hz. Further research will focus on extending the study to a larger population.