Benefits of equine therapy

• April 19, 2024

Known since the time of the Greeks, the equine therapy or hippotherapy was recommended to improve the mood of people with incurable diseases .

Many centuries later, during the seventeenth century, the use of the horse as a therapeutic tool was advised to counteract the effects of gout. More recently, hippotherapy in Europe extended from the second half of the last century and is best reflected in the German model, where horse riding and the effect it produces on the patient is crucial for the medical treatment of many horses. sufferings

It is a therapeutic alternative based on the stimulation of the muscles and joints of the patient through the three-dimensional movement of the horse, as well as contact with the animal that helps improve cognitive levels , communicative and personality of the person afflicted by an illness or a disability.

All patients undergoing hippotherapy should be put in the hands of a professional who will be able to guide all aspects of the treatment, from the choice of the horse, the exercises to be developed on it and the planning of the sessions.

Benefits of hippotherapy

This type of therapy is recommended for people who suffer from diseases and disabilities such as: multiple sclerosis, autism, Down syndrome, spina bifida, brain traumas, muscular dystrophy, anorexia, as well as neurodegenerative and traumatological diseases. Among the benefits of this treatment include:

• In the area psychological / cognitive: improves self-esteem and self-control of emotions, as well as self-confidence and attention span; memory works and enhances the feeling of normality.
• In the area of communication and language: improves and increases gestural and oral communication, as well as the articulation of words.
• In the area psychomotor : hippotherapy improves balance, coordination, reflexes, motor planning, the ability to relax the muscles and general physical condition; Strengthens muscles and reduces abnormal movement patterns.

Horses suitable for therapy

According to Alejandro Rodríguez, head of the Department of Medicine and Animal Husbandry at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), there are currently more than 20 equestrian centers in Mexico that offer such therapy. Equine therapy is a ideal therapeutic method to rehabilitate people with disabilities and that must be done with an animal between eight and ten years of age, since at that stage it becomes peaceful and of good character.

Video Medicine: What is Equine Therapy? (April 2024).