ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate gait-pattern changes after complete tibial
nerve lesion in the cat, and to observe whether nerve repair could reverse some of
the changes. In six cats, a 5-cm segment of the tibial nerve was transected. The nerve
gap was then repaired with nerve autograft in three animals and was unrepaired in
three as controls. The walking patterns of the cats were videotaped, and the hip,
knee, ankle, and metatarsophalangeal joint angles were measured at the beginnings
of the F, El, E2, and E3 phases of the step cycle. Two weeks after surgery, abnormal
gait patterns were observed, and four gait parameters (E3.Hip, E3.Ankle, E3.M-P, and
F.Ankle) were found to be statistically significantly different from normal. Six months
after surgery, the nerve-graft group had gait-parameter values approaching normal,
while the control group showed no measurable improvement. Correspondingly, electrophysiologic
testing revealed considerable nerve regeneration in the nerve-graft group but not
in the control group. It was concluded that these gait parameters can be used as valid
functional indices to evaluate the degree of tibial nerve recovery in the cat model.
