Gait and Gross Motor Improvements in a Two-Year-Old Child With Arthrogryposis After Hippotherapy Intervention Using a Norwegian Fjord

• Published in: Journal of equine veterinary science 2018-08, Vol.67, p.15-18
• Main Authors: Brady, Heidi A., James, C. Roger, Dendy, Doug W., Irwin, Tangi A., Swiacki, Colleen A., Thompson, Leslie D., Camp, Tammy M., Yang, Hyung Suk, Cooper, Kinyata J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AMC; Arthrogryposis; Gait; Hippotherapy
• ISSN: 0737-0806; 1542-7412
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jevs.2018.02.003

A 2-year-old child with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC) was prescribed occupational therapy using hippotherapy intervention. Multiple joint contractures present at birth affecting joint function are characteristics of AMC. Twenty-five 30-min hippotherapy sessions were conducted. The Battelle Developmental Inventory Second Edition (BDI-2) was used to measure the subject's motor skills, and a computerized motion capture system was used to measure gait parameters. Data were collected prestudy (before intervention), midstudy (after 14 sessions), and poststudy (after 25 sessions). An 18-year-old 14.2 hand Fjord gelding which had high rotational movement that stimulates core development was selected for all sessions. The BDI-2 scores showed gross motor improvements at each time point with the percent delays decreasing from 57% prestudy, 32% midstudy, to 6% poststudy after 25 sessions of hippotherapy. Similarly, gross motor percentile rank (PR) (among all children) improved in a linear fashion at the same time points from