Graduate Program in Physical Therapy, Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions, 1202 Health Professions Bldg, Central Michigan University, Mt Pleasant, MI 48859, USA.
Phys Ther. 2012 May;92(5):707-17. doi: 10.2522/ptj.20110081. Epub 2012 Jan 12.
Clinical observations have suggested that hippotherapy may be an effective strategy for habilitating balance deficits in children with movement disorders. However, there is limited research to support this notion.
The purposes of this study were to assess the effectiveness of hippotherapy for the management of postural instability in children with mild to moderate balance problems and to determine whether there is a correlation between balance and function.
A repeated-measures design for a cohort of children with documented balance deficits was used.
Sixteen children (9 boys and 7 girls) who were 5 to 16 years of age and had documented balance problems participated in this study. Intervention consisted of 45-minute hippotherapy sessions twice per week for 6 weeks. Two baseline assessments and 1 postintervention assessment of balance, as measured with the Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS), and of function, as measured with the Activities Scale for Kids-Performance (ASKp), were performed.
With the Friedman analysis of variance, the PBS and the ASKp were found to be statistically significant across all measurements (P<.0001 for both measures). Post hoc analysis revealed a statistical difference between baseline and postintervention measures (P≤.017). This degree of difference resulted in large effect sizes for PBS (d=1.59) and ASKp (d=1.51) scores after hippotherapy. A Spearman rho correlation of .700 indicated a statistical association between PBS and ASKp postintervention scores (P=.003). There was no correlation between the change in PBS scores and the change in ASKp scores (r(s)=.13, P>.05).
Lack of a control group and the short duration between baseline assessments are study limitations.
The findings suggest that hippotherapy may be a viable strategy for reducing balance deficits and improving the performance of daily life skills in children with mild to moderate balance problems.
临床观察表明，马术疗法可能是一种有效的策略，可以改善运动障碍儿童的平衡缺陷。然而，支持这一观点的研究有限。
本研究旨在评估马术疗法在管理轻度至中度平衡问题儿童的姿势不稳定方面的有效性，并确定平衡与功能之间是否存在相关性。
使用队列中记录有平衡缺陷的儿童的重复测量设计。
16 名年龄在 5 至 16 岁之间且有记录的平衡问题的儿童参加了这项研究。干预措施包括每周两次，每次 45 分钟的马术治疗，共 6 周。在基线评估和 1 次干预后，使用儿科平衡量表（PBS）评估平衡，使用儿童活动量表-表现（ASKp）评估功能。
通过 Friedman 方差分析，发现 PBS 和 ASKp 在所有测量中均具有统计学意义（两者的 P<.0001）。事后分析显示基线和干预后测量之间存在统计学差异（P≤.017）。PBS（d=1.59）和 ASKp（d=1.51）的得分在马术治疗后有较大的差异，这导致了较大的效应量。Spearman rho 相关性为.700，表明干预后 PBS 和 ASKp 评分之间存在统计学关联（P=.003）。PBS 评分的变化与 ASKp 评分的变化之间没有相关性（r(s)=.13，P>.05）。
缺乏对照组和基线评估之间的短暂时间间隔是研究的局限性。
研究结果表明，马术疗法可能是一种可行的策略，可以减少平衡缺陷，提高轻度至中度平衡问题儿童日常生活技能的表现。
