TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of long-term hippotherapy on the walking ability of children with cerebral palsy and quality of life of their caregivers
AU - Mutoh, Tomoko
AU - Mutoh, Tatsushi
AU - Tsubone, Hirokazu
AU - Takada, Makoto
AU - Doumura, Misato
AU - Ihara, Masayo
AU - Shimomura, Hideo
AU - Taki, Yasuyuki
AU - Ihara, Masahiro
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Society of Physical Therapy Science (SPTS2016007). The trial was registered in the University hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR) in July 2, 2016 (UMIN000022986).
Funding Information:
The study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI JP18K10773.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2019 Mutoh, Mutoh, Tsubone, Takada, Doumura, Ihara, Shimomura, Taki and Ihara.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a permanent motor disorder that occurs at birth or during early infancy. Despite advances in fetal and maternal medicine, the incidence of CP remains high. Hippotherapy has gradually been recognized as an excellent rehabilitation tool for children with CP. However, a scientific basis for how it achieves long-term functional improvements or provides additional benefits to patients' caregivers remains unknown. Objectives: We performed a prospective trial to determine how hippotherapy affects the gross motor and gait functions in children with CP and how it may also impact the quality of life (QOL) of patients' caregivers. Methods: In total, 24 children with CP (11 boys, 13 girls; age: 4-14 years; Gross Motor Function Classification System [GMFCS] II-III) underwent a program (30 min/day, once a week) of hippotherapy or day-care recreation (control) over a 1-year intervention and a 3-month follow-up period. Assessment measures used for the children were gait parameters for a 5-m walk test, Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM)-66, and GMFM dimension-E (GMFM-E). The QOL of the caregivers was estimated using a brief version of the World Health Organization Quality Of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) self-assessment questionnaire. Results: In addition to better GMFM-66 and GMFM-E scores, hippotherapy was associated with increased cadence, step length, and mean acceleration; stabilized horizontal/vertical displacement of patients; and better relationship between the psychological status and QOL of the caregivers than those seen in the control group (p < 0.05). Additionally, the initially improved children's step length and their caregivers' psychological QOL domain (particularly in the "positive feeling" facet) tended to be preserved up to the 3-month follow-up. Conclusion: These data suggest that compared with common day-care recreational activities, a 1-year program of once-weekly hippotherapy can improve not only the walking ability of children with CP but also the psychological health and QOL of their caregivers.
AB - Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a permanent motor disorder that occurs at birth or during early infancy. Despite advances in fetal and maternal medicine, the incidence of CP remains high. Hippotherapy has gradually been recognized as an excellent rehabilitation tool for children with CP. However, a scientific basis for how it achieves long-term functional improvements or provides additional benefits to patients' caregivers remains unknown. Objectives: We performed a prospective trial to determine how hippotherapy affects the gross motor and gait functions in children with CP and how it may also impact the quality of life (QOL) of patients' caregivers. Methods: In total, 24 children with CP (11 boys, 13 girls; age: 4-14 years; Gross Motor Function Classification System [GMFCS] II-III) underwent a program (30 min/day, once a week) of hippotherapy or day-care recreation (control) over a 1-year intervention and a 3-month follow-up period. Assessment measures used for the children were gait parameters for a 5-m walk test, Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM)-66, and GMFM dimension-E (GMFM-E). The QOL of the caregivers was estimated using a brief version of the World Health Organization Quality Of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) self-assessment questionnaire. Results: In addition to better GMFM-66 and GMFM-E scores, hippotherapy was associated with increased cadence, step length, and mean acceleration; stabilized horizontal/vertical displacement of patients; and better relationship between the psychological status and QOL of the caregivers than those seen in the control group (p < 0.05). Additionally, the initially improved children's step length and their caregivers' psychological QOL domain (particularly in the "positive feeling" facet) tended to be preserved up to the 3-month follow-up. Conclusion: These data suggest that compared with common day-care recreational activities, a 1-year program of once-weekly hippotherapy can improve not only the walking ability of children with CP but also the psychological health and QOL of their caregivers.
KW - Caregivers
KW - Cerebral palsy
KW - Gait analysis
KW - Hippotherapy
KW - Quality of life
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U2 - 10.3389/fneur.2019.00834
DO - 10.3389/fneur.2019.00834
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85070796738
SN - 1664-2295
VL - 10
JO - Frontiers in Neurology
JF - Frontiers in Neurology
IS - JUL
M1 - 834
ER -