Hippotherapy
"Hippotherapy literally means ‘‘therapy with the help of a horse’’ and is derived from the Greek word hippos, meaning ‘‘horse.’’ (Children's TherAplay, 2013).
The American Hippotherapy Association, the largest hippotherapy association in the world, defines this unique therapy such as, "A physical, occupational, and speech therapy treatment strategy that utilizes equine movement." (American Hippotherapy Association, n.d.) The horse's movement underneath a riding patient is the therapy itself. The rhythm, movement and walking pattern that the horse provides provides a dynamic movement that can not be reproduced using any other animal or technology. Speech in Motion. com is a blog website pertaining to therapies that help children with speech and language deficits. One blogger explains how hippotherapy is used to help in speech, they write: "During a hippotherapy session, the horses movement causes movement in the patient. This movement is repeated each time the horse takes a step. Approximately 3,000 facilitatory steps of movement are produced in a 20 minute session using Hippotherapy. This translates into 3,000 opportunities to form a new motor pathway for speech and language development." (Rocco, 2015) |
(Wycoff, 2015)
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