Figure 5.

Shown in A are the means ± SD for the peak (extension), trough (flexion) and excursion of the hip, knee and ankle of trained and untrained 25g-cm injured animals, pre-injury (baseline), at week 1 post-injury (pre-retraining) and at week 9, after 8 weeks of training or cage rest (untrained). Asterisks (*) indicate significant differences from baseline for maximum joint extension (peak, top of bar), maximum joint flexion (trough, bottom of bar) and total joint excursion (peak - trough, middle of bar). These data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA followed by a Tukey's post-hoc t-test. With the exception of ankle excursion, no significant differences were found for trained or untrained groups compared to baseline measures or for the trained group compared to the untrained group. B. The mean PSI and RI (± SD) for walking in a dry tank were not statistically different for trained compared to untrained animals. The stick figures shown in C represent three common occurrences observed during stepping in a dry tank: 1. Plantar drag (when the plantar surface of the paw is visible to the ventral camera and is in contact with the surface but is dragged along the surface without providing significant weight support). This is not defined as a plantar step for the PSI. 2. Plantar step (where the plantar surface of the paw is clearly visible to the camera and does not shift position until swing is initiated). This kind of step is associated with weight support as reflected by the hip height and would be defined as a plantar step for the PSI. 3. A limb drag with the ankle extended (the plantar surface of the paw is not visible to the ventral camera and the hip height is low). This would not be defined as a plantar step for the PSI.