Monitoring changes in skin temperature associated with exercise in horses on a water treadmill by use of infrared thermography

Yarnell, K ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7464-8764, Fleming, J, Stratton, TD and Brassington, R, 2014. Monitoring changes in skin temperature associated with exercise in horses on a water treadmill by use of infrared thermography. Journal of Thermal Biology, 45. ISSN 0306-4565

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Abstract

Infrared thermography (IRT) was used to assess surface temperature change as an indirect measure of muscle activity and exercise associated changes in blood flow in the working hind limb muscles of horses (n¼7) undergoing water tread mill exercise. Three treatments were investigated including the treadmill ran dry (TD), water at the height of the proximal interphalangeal joint (PIP) and water at the height of the carpus (CP). Maximum skin surface temperature was recorded from the region of these mitendinosus muscle during exercise at each water height. There was a significant difference in surface hind limb temperature between exercise on the water treadmill ran dry and with water at the height of the PIP and CP (Po0.0001) with hotter temperatures recorded during the TD treatment. There was a greater increase in surface temperature of the hind limbs from preexercise to maximum temperature during the PIP and CP treatments when compared to the TD treatment, however, this was not significant (P¼0.58). There was no significant difference in surface hind limb temperature found between exercise in water at the height of the PIP and water at the height of the CP. The findings from this study suggest that IRT is able to non-invasively detect muscle activity and associated changes in blood flow whilst horses are exercised on a water treadmill. IRT could potentially be used as an alternative method to assess muscle activity and temperature change in an aquatic environment where existing methods present methodological challenges.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Thermal Biology
Creators:	Yarnell, K., Fleming, J., Stratton, T.D. and Brassington, R.
Publisher:	Elsevier
Date:	2014
Volume:	45
ISSN:	0306-4565
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2014.08.003 DOI
Rights:	© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences
Record created by:	EPrints Services
Date Added:	09 Oct 2015 10:03
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2017 13:17
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/6853

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