Hippotherapy as a treatment for socialization after sexual abuse and emotional stress

Abstract

[Purpose] Hippotherapy is a therapeutic resource that uses the horse as a kinesiotherapy instrument to elicit motor and cognitive improvements in individuals with special needs. [Subjects and Methods] This research evaluated two women aged 18 and 21 years, who had suffered sexual violence when they were children between the ages of 6 and 7 years old. The subjects did not have mental dysfunction but they were regular students registered at a school of special education. The patients presented severe motor limitation, difficulty with coordination, significant muscular retractions, thoracic and cervical kyphosis, cervical protrusion wich was basically a function of the postures they had adopted when victims of the sexual violence suffered in childhood. The patients performed twenty sessions of 30 minutes of hippotherapy on a horse. The activities were structured to stimulate coordination, proprioception, the vestibular and motor-sensorial systems for the improvement of posture, muscle activity and cognition. [Results] The activities provided during the hippotherapy sessions elicited alterations in postural adjustment resulting in 30% improvement, 80% improvement in coordination in, 50% improvement in corporal balance and in sociability and self-esteem. [Conclusion] Hippotherapy proved to be an effective treatment method for coordination, balance and postural correction, and also improved the patients’ self-esteem that had suffered serious emotional stress.

Benefits of Hippotherapy and Horse Riding Simulation Exercise on Healthy Older Adults: A Systematic Review

“…Much of the investigations on EAT are focused on children with special needs as cerebral palsy [7,14,15], Down syndrome [16], autism [17], cerebrovascular disease [18], multiple sclerosis [10,19,20], spinal cord injury [21], and psychiatric diseases [22]. Because aging may affect their well-being and quality of life, hippotherapy could improve their physical, emotional, and social functions.…”

What is hippotherapy? The indications and effectiveness of hippotherapy

“…Hippotherapy can be used in different indications as cerebral palsy [12, 13, 14, 15, 16], traumatic brain damage [2, 3], Down syndrome, autistic behavioural disorders [17, 18], muscular dystrophy, amputated patients, cerebrovascular disease (SVD)[19, 20], multiple sclerosis [3, 21], psychiatric diseases [14, 15, 16], spinal cord diseases, and rheumatismal joint diseases etc.…”

“…In recent years, in pediatric, and adolescent psychiatry horse or pony-assisted therapy has been an interesting phenomenon which is also encouraged by health professionals [14, 15]. Guerino et al investigated the effectiveness of hippotherapy in two young women (18, and 21 years of age, respectively) who were exposed to sexual assault during childhood [16]. They observed serious motor limitation, coordination disorders, conspicuous muscle spasms, and postural disorders as thoracic, and cervical kyphosis, and cervical protrusion in these girls.…”

Hippotherapy – an effective multi-profile treatment?

“…This therapy in 30% contributed to a change in the regulation of body posture, resulted in 80% improvement in coordination, and 50% improvement in body balance, openness to interpersonal relationships and self-esteem. In this case, hippotherapy proved to be effective treatment not only in the physical area but also the mental one [23]. Tabares et al analyzed the levels of hormones from saliva samples taken before and after the sessions of hippotherapy for children with autism.…”