The Value of Horses in Post-Acute Rehabilitation

Not only are horses magnificent animals, pets and friends to many, but they can be an important part of the milieu of clinically relevant services provided at the post-acute level of rehabilitation. NeuLife, in Mount Dora, Florida, strives to ensure the best possible outcome for each client and skillfully integrates these specialized horse therapies into the client’s individualized Client Goal Plan,

While horse-related therapy is not appropriate for all clients, when it is, it is a form of specialized rehabilitation that involves a multidisciplinary team of physicians, neurologists, neuropsychologists, speech language pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists and others to integrate it into the Client Goal Plan and to deliver this innovative form of post-acute rehabilitation and track outcomes from it.

The are two primary types of horse-related post-acute therapies. Although they both come under the broad umbrella of “equine-assisted therapies,” there are differences between them:

• Hippotherapy is best characterized as a form of physical, speech and occupational therapy that uses a horse as a rehabilitation device. The hallmark of it is the use of the typical movements of a horse to improve neurologic and sensory processing. Although the broad origins of the therapy date back thousands of years, its currency was renewed in the 1980’s and 1990’s as a formalized adjunct to physical therapy[1].

The physical dynamics of hippotherapy involve the fact that a horse’s pelvis is similar and, therefore, moves similarly to that of a human. Consequently, an individual who has sustained a traumatic injury or a spinal cord injury and requires post-acute rehabilitation may benefit from this form of specialized rehabilitation in some or all of the following ways:

1. Improved motor control;
2. Improved visual motor skills;
3. Improved bilateral control;
4. Improved cognition; and
5. Post-acute sensory processing therapy by means of hippotherapy may simultaneously address tactile, auditory, visual, vestibular [balance] and proprioceptive deficits [2]. Proprioceptive deficits refer to those related to difficulties in sensing one’s own perception of other parts of the body and the strength of effort being used in movement of one’s own body.

In sum, the incorporation of hippotherapy as part of the Client Goal Plan for the post-acute rehabilitation of a client after a catastrophic injury can be a valuable adjunct to other rehabilitative therapies in order to advance the client toward independence.

• Equine therapy is also referred to as “Equine-Assisted Therapy.” The loss and the consequent need for the redevelopment of trust and self-confidence of an individual who has sustained a catastrophic injury are critical.

For the physically injured, for example, an individual with a spinal cord injury or a traumatic amputation who requires limb amputation rehabilitation: once an independent functional evaluation has been completed and the Client Goal Plan established, the neurobehavioral and neuropsychological issues must be dealt with. One of the ways to rebuild trust, confidence and self-esteem is through the use of specialized rehabilitation therapies such as equine therapy[3].

Equine-assisted therapy can help build an emotional connection between the individual and the horse: trust, social skills and impulse control to name a few. This is especially useful for individuals who have suffered traumatic brain injuries affecting those parts of the brain that control those behaviors. Like hippotherapy, equine-assisted therapy is not a sole therapy but is among the arsenal to specialized therapies that can be a part of the comprehensive innovative therapies employed to assist a NeuLife client in achieving independence to the fullest extent of his or her physical abilities.

Proper and timely post-acute rehabilitation that may determine the difference between disability and independence is what NeuLife refers to as the “platinum post-acute period” — the crucial window following acute care that is needed to nurture the whole person to health with specialized, clinically relevant services.

NeuLife’s philosophy is that healing, wellness and personal fulfillment are best achieved in a positive and uplifting therapeutic environment where caring staff encourages, assists and supports each client so he or she may achieve specific goals. NeuLife believes personal fulfillment is equally as important as goals to achieve function and independence.

NeuLife, in Mount Dora, Florida, is an accessible residential post-acute program providing specialized rehabilitation to individuals diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic amputations and other catastrophic injuries.

2725 Robie Avenue

Mount Dora, Florida 32757

[1] The History of Hippotherapy, The American Hippotherapy Association, http://www.americanhippotherapyassociation.org/about-aha/about_aha/

[2] Therapeutic Riding and Hippotherapy: What it is and How Does it Work, www.SpeechPathology.com, http://www.speechpathology.com/articles/therapeutic-riding-and-hippotherapy-what-1177

[3] Equine Psychotherapy