Stergiou Alexandra N, Mattila-Rautiainen Sanna, Varvarousis Dimitrios N, Tzoufi Meropi, Plyta Panagiota, Beris Alexandros, Ploumis Avraam
Division of Surgery, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Ioannina Medical School, Ioannina, Greece.
Ioannina Therapeutic Riding Center, Ioannina, Greece.
Front Vet Sci. 2023 Aug 15;10:1203481. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1203481. eCollection 2023.
To evaluate the efficacy of Equine Assisted Therapy in children with Cerebral Palsy, in terms of gross motor function, performance, and spasticity as well as whether this improvement can be maintained for 2 months after the end of the intervention.
Children with Cerebral Palsy participated in this prospective cohort study. The study lasted for 28 weeks, of which the equine assisted therapy lasted 12 weeks taking place once a week for 30 min. Repeated measures within the subject design were used for the evaluation of each child's physical performance and mental capacity consisting of six measurements: Gross Motor Function Measure-88 (GMFM-88), Gross Motor Performance Measure (GMPM), Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC III).
Statistically significant improvements were achieved for 31 children in Gross Motor Function Measure and all its subcategories ( < 0.005), also in total Gross Motor Performance Measure and all subcategories (p < 0.005). These Gross Motor Function Measure results remained consistent for 2 months after the last session of the intervention. Regarding spasticity, although an improving trend was seen, this was not found to be statistically significant.
Equine Assisted Therapy improves motor ability (qualitatively and quantitatively) in children with Cerebral Palsy, with clinical significance in gross motor function.
评估马术辅助治疗对脑瘫患儿粗大运动功能、运动表现和痉挛的疗效，以及干预结束后这种改善是否能维持2个月。
脑瘫患儿参与了这项前瞻性队列研究。研究持续28周，其中马术辅助治疗持续12周，每周进行一次，每次30分钟。采用受试者内重复测量设计来评估每个孩子的身体表现和心理能力，包括六项测量：粗大运动功能测量-88（GMFM-88）、粗大运动表现测量（GMPM）、粗大运动功能分类系统（GMFCS）、改良Ashworth量表（MAS）和韦氏儿童智力量表（WISC III）。
31名儿童在粗大运动功能测量及其所有子类别中均取得了统计学上的显著改善（<0.005），在总粗大运动表现测量及其所有子类别中也取得了显著改善（p<0.005）。这些粗大运动功能测量结果在干预的最后一次治疗后2个月内保持一致。关于痉挛，虽然观察到有改善趋势，但未发现具有统计学意义。
马术辅助治疗可改善脑瘫患儿的运动能力（在质量和数量上），对粗大运动功能具有临床意义。
