Role and Effects of Hippotherapy in the Treatment of Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review of the Literature
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Menor Rodríguez, María José; Sánchez García, Juan Carlos; Montiel Troya, María; Cortés Martín, Jonathan; Rodríguez Blanque, RaquelEditorial
MDPI
Materia
Hippotherapy Equine assisted therapy Children Cerebral palsy
Date
2021-06-11Referencia bibliográfica
Menor-Rodríguez, M.J... [et al.]. Role and Effects of Hippotherapy in the Treatment of Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review of the Literature. J. Clin. Med. 2021, 10, 2589. [https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10122589]
Abstract
Cerebral palsy is described as a group of permanent neuromotor-type disorders caused by
non-progressive injuries in the developmental stages of the central nervous system, and which have
serious repercussions on the quality of life of affected children due to the physical and psychological
damage it entails for them. Today, it is the leading cause of physical disability in childhood. Since
there is no cure for this disorder, treatment is based on the improvement of symptoms, which is
not always achieved through conventional therapies. For this reason, the need arises to investigate
other alternative therapies, such as hippotherapy, to determine the main effects of hippotherapy as a
rehabilitation therapy in children with cerebral palsy. The review was performed in accordance with
the criteria of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)
protocol and was registered under the number CRD42021233003. The databases used were PubMed,
Dialnet and the web browser Google Scholar. After applying the inclusion criteria, we included
11 articles. As a conclusion, we found that hippotherapy provides benefits at physical, psychological,
cognitive and social levels in children with cerebral palsy, and thus it should be considered as a
complementary rehabilitation therapy to conventional treatments.