The effects of hippotherapy on strength, mobility and balance in elderly
With the ageing population phenomenon, the functional abilities of elderly become increasingly important, and new treatments are being researched. This article aims to find the effects of hippotherapy on muscle strength, functional mobility and balance, which are different aspects necessary for elderly to perform activities of daily life.
In this trial, 28 volunteers between the age of 60 and 84 were randomly assigned to a hippotherapy group or a control group. The hippotherapy group performed a biweekly hippotherapy session. A limitation to this study is that the control group were not prescribed any specific exercises but continued as before. All aspects were assessed before and after training with different tools, functional mobility was assessed and measured by Time Up and Go Test (TUG), muscle strength of the lower limbs was measured by 30 s Chair Stand Test (30CST) and performance in balance was measured by the Berg Balance Scale (BBS).
The results show that there was a significant improvement in the hippotherapy group as compared to the control group with regards to the BBS (p = 0.003) and 30CST (p = 0.032), but not of the TUG (p = 0.063). The results therefore show that hippotherapy improves the lower limb strength and balance in elderly.
> de Araújo et al. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. 2013;56(3):478-481. All rights reserved to 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Click here for the Pubmed summary
