Horses have always been an important partner of man. They are even able to help him with certain diseases. Or at least to have a positive influence on the course of the disease. Especially people with neurological disabilities can benefit from therapeutic riding. One form of therapeutic riding is hippotherapy.
What is hippotherapy?
Hippotherapy is becoming increasingly popular in today’s world. It is a form of therapeutic riding that uses specially trained horses or ponies. Hippotherapy is a specialty of therapeutic riding as well as curative education with horses and riding as a sport for people with disabilities. In hippotherapy, however, the focus is on the patient affected by neurological movement disorders. Many medical successes have already been achieved in this way. No matter if children, adults or seniors: Hippotherapy is suitable for all age groups. It can be considered as a form of physiotherapy for training posture. The patient sits on the horseback and is accompanied by a therapist. The patient himself does not exert any influence on the horse.
Function, effect and goals
Hippotherapy is used for people with neurological diseases that entail certain movement disorders. These include multiple sclerosis as well as ataxia (disorders of movement coordination) and traumatic brain injury. Hippotherapy also promises good treatment results for non-neurological damage to the musculoskeletal system. Patients with damage to the limbs (dysmelia), for example, and a resulting curvature of the body learn in therapy to strengthen their muscles where they are too weak. Overstrained muscles, on the other hand, learn to let go. A balance is restored. In this way, the patient’s posture can be corrected and joint misalignments prevented. Muscle tension is normalized,
In practice, therapeutic riding involves the patient sitting passively on the horse’s back. The therapist guides the patient. At a walking pace, the horse now transmits its three-dimensional vibrations to the person. In this way, the patient should learn to consciously perceive these vibrations in the pelvis and to follow these movements. The horse transmits about 100 vibration impulses to the person in one minute. In this way, the patient trains not only his posture and balance, but also a healthy body feeling. Thus, in many cases, there is an improvement in neurological movement disorders. In addition, hippotherapy trains the patient’s entire perceptual system. For example, people with hemiparesis can regain a feeling for the center of their body. The effect of therapeutic riding is that the patient’s body tries to readjust to the vibrations of the moving horse. In this process, all axes of movement are used and applied to improve the motor function of the patient. In this way a positive influence is taken on the course of the respective illness. Another advantage of hippotherapy is that the therapist gains access to the patient through the way of the horse and can thus work with him better. The inclusion of this sensitive animal in the healing process of the human being also has the positive effect that the often occurring therapy disenchantment in the patients decreases or disappears completely. This improves the chances of success, because the patient opens up more to the therapist again.
Risks, side effects and dangers
Hippotherapy can bring about significant improvements in the patient’s clinical picture in many neurological or other movement disorders. On the other hand, there are also conditions in which hippotherapy does more harm than good. For this reason, the therapy is not considered suitable for people with inflammation of the spine, for example, or for people with an active episode of multiple sclerosis. In addition, it should not be used for people with seizure disorders that are poorly controlled by medication, as this form of therapy involves a high risk of injury due to the height of the fall from the horse. In addition, patients with an increased risk of thrombosis or embolism should refrain from this treatment method.Since a fall from the horse’s back cannot be completely ruled out, hippotherapy should also not be considered for treatment if the affected person also suffers from hemophilia. People with an allergy to horse hair naturally also do not benefit from therapy high on horseback. This also applies to sufferers of other forms of allergy. People who have an extreme reaction to dust, hay and other animal hair with hay fever, cough or asthma will not feel comfortable around horses. Furthermore, hippotherapy is not recommended if a person is suffering acutely from inflammatory processes, regardless of their origin, or from pronounced arteriosclerosis. Furthermore, the form of therapy is unsuitable for patients with acute herniated disc, hip joint arthrosis or angina pectoris. This form of treatment is also not recommended for patients with high blood pressure and a tendency to hypertensive crisis. Normally, the attending physician or specialist issues a prescription for the physiotherapeutic method, so that there is actually no wrong way of treatment here. This requires a thorough medical examination of the patient in advance, so that the particular disease can be diagnosed.
