Electromyographic analysis of children with intellectual disability during hippotherapy compared to independent gait

Abstract

Aim: analyze the electrical activity of muscles of trunk and lower limbs of children with Intellectual disability (ID) during hippotherapy compared to independent gait before and after 15 sessions. Materials and Methods: eight children with ID and mean age of 11 ± 1.69 years participated. Hippotherapy sessions were performed for 30 minutes, once a week, with horse riding equipment blanket without foot support in the stirrups. The surface electromyography was used to access muscles activity during hippotherapy and gait and between pre- and post- 15 sessions. Results: when comparing hippotherapy to gait, there was greater muscle activity during gait, regardless of the moment analyzed, pre- or post-session (p<0.05). However, when comparing pre- to post-sessions moments, during gait there was a significant decrease in muscle activity (p<0.05) after sessions, while, in hippotherapy was observed a significant increase (p<0.05) after sessions. Conclusion: the electromyographic activity of trunk and lower limbs of children with ID is greater during gait compared to hippotherapy, regardless of the moment, reporting the beneficial effects of hippotherapy from the integration of musculoskeletal, sensory and neural systems on muscle behavior during independent gait.