Hippotherapy Practice

Hippotherapy is defined as physical, occupational, or speech therapy while riding a horse during which "the therapist can modify the horse's movement to promote specific responses within the individual" (McKenna Farms, n.d.). It is an alternative and complimentary medicine that has existed in some form since the prominence of the ancient Greeks, and was noted by Hippocrates to be rehabilitative as it involved "healing rhythms" (Granados, A. C., & Agís, I. F., 2011, p. 191). Although ancient in its beginnings, hippotherapy remains an understudied practice that, while providing positive patient feedback (Granados, A. C., & Agís, I. F. 2011, p. 191; Bass, M. et al., 2009, p. 1261), lacks the research base to make it a contemporary and competitive therapy. Likewise, there are few studies, if any, that identify problems with hippotherapy or knowledge gaps in the practice that could be addressed with follow-up studies in order to make hippotherapy more effective. …show more content…
et al., 2012, p. 151). The study relied on 3-D videography to track the motion of several horses carrying various riders representative of hippotherapy patients over the course of one hippotherapy session (Janura, M. et al., 2012, p. 148). The study concluded that there was no statistically significant variation in motion during the sessions, and that the horses' motion was consistent while walking during a single session (Janura, M. et al., 2012, p. 151). This study does not account for variation of movement caused by varying leaders of hippotherapy sessions; it merely accounts for the horse

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