How does hippotherapy work?
Hippotherapy has been shown to be one of the most efficient and effective treatments to improve postural control, balance and walking in patients with motor disorders. Children with developmental disabilities such as spasticity, hypotonia (low tone), and attention disorders, as well as traumatic brain injury can benefit from hippotherapy. The horse’s movement has a therapeutic effect on the child because it imparts a precise, repetitive pattern of movement very similar to the movement of a person’s pelvis during normal walking. The major aims of hippotherapy include mobilizing the pelvis, lumbar spine and hip joints, normalizing muscle tone, developing head and trunk postural control and equilibrium reactions in the trunk. In fact, these goals of postural control and equilibrium reactions can be achieved more easily on the horse than in the clinic. The horse’s rhythmical movements transmit symmetrical sensory input to the child’s brain and nervous system in a way that cannot be imitate
