In medical science, what is hippotherapy?

Hippotherapy consists of the words meaning “horse” ('hippos'), and “treatment” ('therapy') in ancient Greek. It is defined as equine-assisted treatment. It was mentioned in the works of Hippocrates.

In countries as Germany, Austria, and Sweden which used the horse in physical therapy the term “hippotherapy” was introduced into medical literature in the 1960s. During 1970s in the U.S. hippotherapy started to be standardized.

The defined term hippotherapy refers to how occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech-language pathology professionals use evidence-based practice and clinical reasoning in the purposeful manipulation of equine movement as a therapy tool to engage sensory, neuro-motor and cognitive systems to promote functional outcomes.

The average horse walks at a rate of approximately 100 steps per minute. Just 5 minutes on a walking horse represents 500 neuro-motor inputs to the patient. In a typical therapy session, 15 to 25 minutes of equine movement may be incorporated by the treating therapist, which represents 1500 to 2500 neuro-motor inputs to the patient.