Sport adapted hippotherapy for disabled people affected by multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Purpose: There are not many sports serving as therapy for people suffered from multiple sclerosis. Consequently, there is a lack of protocols to develop wellness in terms of improvements in skills and abilities in these subjects. This study aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of a hippotherapy-based training protocol to improve skills and abilities, including quality of movement, balance, and core strength, that could be useful for fit-well-ness of these subjects. Methods: The study involved 12 subjects (35.6 ± 6.2 years old) with multiple sclerosis. The 12-week program consisted of 1 weekly 60-minute hippotherapy session divided into ground warm-up, middle phase and cool-down on both horseback and ground. MdR scale, Stork Balance test and sit-up test were administered pre-post 12 weeks. After checking the normality of the data with Shapiro-Wilk test, a dependent-samples t-test was performed to check the differences pre-post 12 weeks. Data were processed using SPSS statistical software with an alpha level set at 0.05. Results: A statistically significant improvement was found in all parameters tested (p<0.05). Specifically, there was an improvement in MdR score (+29.4%), balance (+31.1%) and abdominal muscle strength (+42.3%). Conclusions: The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the 12-week hippotherapy program for people suffered from multiple sclerosis to improve quality of movement, static balance, and core strength. These evidences can provide a basis from which technicians and practitioners can be inspired to develop protocols designed to ensure the development and maintenance of an adequate level of well-fit-ness in all people through fun, safe, and dynamic activity.