Assessment of functional balance in children with sensory impairments undergoing hippotherapy

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the functional balance of children with sensory impairments submitted to hippotherapy. Methods: 24 children of both genres equally participated in three groups: cerebral palsy (CP), Down syndrome (DS), and intellectual disability (ID) with the respective age groups (10.71 ± 2.69 years), (12.83 ± 2.64 years), and (11 ± 1.69 years).There were 15 attendances in hippotherapy with riding materials specific to each group. The Pediatric Balance Scale (EEP) was used before the 1st and after the 15th hippotherapy session (pre and post moments) to assess functional balance. The data were analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk tests (normality), Bartlett test (homogeneity), and, between the pre- and post-care times, the paired t-test (intra-groups) and ANOVA with Bonferroni's multiple comparison tests (between groups), with statistical significance for p < 0.05. Results: in the post-attendance, there was an increase in the EEP score for the three groups (intra groups) with significance for children with ID (p = 0.003) and DS (p = 0.033); the CP group had a lower score (inter groups) in both times, pre (p = 0.003) and post (p = 0.002) attendance. Conclusion: hippotherapy contributed to the functional balance of children with distinct sensory impairments, according to the clinical diagnosis and riding material specific to the group, thus being able to be considered a therapeutic method with relevant benefits regarding the sensory aspects of the population.