Abstract
An experiment was carried out to investigate the characteristics of the anatomical structure and the locomotor mechanism of the equine carpal joint. A total of 51 equine normal forelegs were collected from 33 thoroughbreds aged 0-day to 78-month-old. The range of movement of the carpal joint, carpal bones and length of the articular cartilage surface were measured and the following results were obtaind.
Range of movement of the carpal joint was 147.17±8.82 degrees and was maintained invariably after 13 months of age. Also, the radiocarpal and intracarpal joints had shown maximum flexion at about 79, 73 degrees respectively. The surface on the relative face of the carpal bones varied in size. The findings of this study supported the concept that the strong restorative force is a factor determining the direction of the longitudinal axis for constriction of flexion to extension movement on the part of the capal joint. It was presumed that this concept might be able to explain the characteristic phenomemon of carpal fracture in race horses.
