Hippotherapy

Around 460 BC, Hippocrates wrote about the benefits and natural exercise being on horseback provides. However, it wasn't until the 1960's that it started to gain public attention in the US. Currently, animals have been making more of a place for themselves in the healthcare arena. Horses included. Hippotherapy is a treatment strategy exclusively utilized by licensed physical, occupational and speech therapy practitioners. During this treatment, a client is properly paired with equine movement to encourage and improve the client's motor output. This is done by pairing the integrated movement patterns of the horse with that of the client.Performed properly, hippotherapy can result in 5,000 repetitions in 5 minutes. This increased efficiency yields demonstrably improved results when compared to traditional therapeutic modalities.

Highlights

• Understand how equine movement is utilized to improve outcomes
• Identify the diagnoses that benefit most from this intervention
• Learn how equine movement directly impacts essential human organ systems
• Integrate your discipline-specific knowledge with thisunique treatment strategy

Target Audience: Physical Therapists, Physical Therapist Assistants, Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Assistants, Speech-Language Pathologists