Summary

Decreased carpal range of motion is a common sequelto both disease and injury of the canine carpus; it isalso encountered following therapeutic endeavourssuch as taping, bandaging, and arthrodesis. It was theaim of this study to define alterations of movement indogs with artificially restricted carpal range of motion(ROM) by use of non-invasive, two-dimensional, computer-assisted kinematic gait analysis. Carpal tapingwas performed using strips of five centimetre adhesiveporous bandage tape placed in circumferential, over-lappingstrips from mid-radius to just proximal to themetacarpal pad. Significant differences (p < 0.05) inangular displacement were observed, not only in themotion-restricted carpus, but also in the ipsilateralshoulder and contralateral stifle, demonstrating theneed for monitoring of other joints when carpal ROMis restricted unilaterally either due to pathology, coaptationor arthrodesis.