Katrina Ask

Orthopedics and pain have long been two major areas of interest for me, particularly in relation to pain recognition and equine and bovine welfare. My research aims to better understand how these animals communicate pain, focusing on both behavioral signs and facial expressions. I study the connection between these two forms of expression, using various objective measurement methods to capture and describe their pain responses. For example, I am a certified EquiFACS user, which allows me to analyze facial movements in detail. Through my research, I have demonstrated that the equine "pain face" is dynamic, varying with the intensity of orthopedic pain.

Additionally, I employ pain scales to assess behavioral changes associated with pain. During my doctoral studies, I have evaluated the reliability and performance of these scales in assessing orthopedic pain in horses.

Lameness and orthopedic pain are common in both horses and cows, and my research seeks to understand the relationship between movement asymmetries and pain. To achieve this, I utilize advanced objective gait analysis systems to gain a deeper understanding of how these animals move during lameness and  underlying causes of their discomfort.

I teach veterinary and veterinary nursing students about canine and equine anatomy, with a focus on the locomotor system and its comparative and clinical aspects.

Additionally, I serve as a supervisor for both bachelor’s and master’s theses.

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I lecture on pain in horses (and cows) and ongoing pain research to increase understanding and promote further knowledge of pain recognition and assessment in animals.

I have spoken at various events, including harness racing education courses at Hästsportens Folkhögskola, at the FEIF Education Seminar 2024, the Swedish Veterinary Meeting 2022, and for Folkuniversitetet.

I graduated as a veterinarian (DVM) in 2012, and have then worked in ambulatory equine and bovine practice. In 2014 I completed an internship in equine surgery and medicine, and worked as an equine veterinary surgeon in Denmark, before I started my PhD in August 2017. In January 2023, I defended my PhD thesis "The look of lameness - Behaviours and facial expressions associated with orthopedic pain in horses", and since February 2023 I am a university lecturer in anatomy.

I serve as a co-supervisor for the PhD student Maja Söderlind.

Leclercq, A., Ask, K., Mellbin, Y., Byström, A., Serra Bragança, F.M., Söderlind, M., Telezhenko, E., Bergsten, C., Andersen, P.H., Rhodin, M., Hernlund, E. 2024. Kinematic changes in dairy cows with induced hindlimb lameness: transferring methodology from the field of equine biomechanics. animal 101269, doi: 10.1016/j.animal.2024.101269

Ask, K., Rhodin, M., Rashid-Engström, M., Hernlund, E., Andersen, P.H., 2024. Changes in the equine facial repertoire during different orthopedic pain intensities. Scientific Reports 14, 129(2024), doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-50383-y. 

Leclercq, A., Lundblad, J., Persson-Sjödin, E., Ask, K., Zetterberg, E., Hernlund, E.,  Andersen, P.H., Rhodin, M. 2023. Perceived sidedness and correlation to vertical movement asymmetries in young warmblood horses. PloS One 18(7): e0288043, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288043

Ask, K., Andersen, P.H., Tamminen, L-T., Rhodin, M., Hernlund, E. 2022. Performance of four equine pain scales and their association to movement asymmetry in horses with induced orthopedic pain. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9:938022, doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.938022. 

Broome, S., Ask, K., Rashid-Engstrom, M., Andersen, P.H., Kjellström, H. 2022. Sharing pain: Using pain domain transfer for video recognition of low grade orthopedic pain in horses. PLoS ONE 17(3):e0263854, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263854. 

Tijssen, M., Serra Braganca, F.M., Ask, K., Rhodin, M., Andersen, P.H., Telezhenko, E., Bergsten, C., Nielen, M., Hernlund, E. 2022. Kinematic gait characteristics of straight line walk in clinically sound dairy cows. PLoS ONE 16(7):e0253479, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253479. 

Rashid, M., Broome, S., Ask, K., Hernlund, E., Andersen, P.H., Kjellström, H., Lee, Y.J. 2022. Equine Pain Behavior Classification via Self-Supervised Disentangled Pose Representation. Conference: 2022 IEEE/CVF Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV), Hawaii. doi: 10.1109/WACV51458.2022.00023

Andersen, P.H., Broome, S., Rashid, M., Lundblad, J., Ask, K., Li, Z., Hernlund, E., Rhodin, M., Kjellström, H. 2021. Towards Machine Recognition of Facial Expressions of Pain in Horses. Animals 11(6):1643. doi: 10.3390/ani11061643. 

Ask, K., Rhodin, M., Tamminen, L-T., Hernlund, E., Andersen, P.H. 2020. Identification of Body Behaviors and Facial Expressions Associated with Induced Orthopedic Pain in Four Equine Pain Scales. Animals 10(11):2155. doi: 10.3390/ani10112155.

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