Highlights
- •Horse-riding simulation exercises indicate a positive effect on health conditions, balance, mobility skills, and muscle strength in people with multiple sclerosis.
- •For people with multiple sclerosis, horse-riding simulation is a safe workout for the whole body, which is performed using core muscles and many joints.
- •Horse-riding simulation approach can be offered as a practical and cost-effective exercise program.
- •We suggest that future research should focus on how effective horse-riding simulation exercises are in the high disability multiple sclerosis group.
Abstract
Objective
To determine the efficacy of hippotherapy simulation exercise on the improvement of
muscle strength, balance, spasticity, and quality of life in individuals with multiple
sclerosis (MS).
Design
Randomized controlled trial.
Setting
Outpatient clinic at the rehabilitation clinic of University of Usak, Turkey
Participants
Individuals with MS (n = 40) participated in this randomized clinical study.
Interventions
Patients in both groups received 36 treatment sessions, 3 times per week for 12 consecutive
weeks. Subjects in the study group performed hippotherapy simulation exercise via
a hippotherapy simulator device. The control group received conventional home exercises.
Main Outcome Measures
The primary outcome measures included the Monitoring My Multiple Sclerosis (MMMS)
Scale, the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test; quadriceps
muscle strength was measured with a dynamometer.
Results
At the level of physical activity, post-intervention MMMS measures showed significant
differences in both cases. TUG was significantly lower, and muscle strength and BBS
were significantly higher in both post-interventions. No outcome measure showed a
significant difference between the groups at both post-intervention and follow-up.
Conclusions
The results of this study in the field of hippotherapy simulation exercise for people
with MS indicate a positive effect on health conditions, balance, mobility skills,
and muscle strength. Further studies are necessary to confirm these preliminary results.
Keywords
Abbreviations:
MS (multiple sclerosis), MMMS (The Monitoring My Multiple Sclerosis Scale), BBS (The Berg Balance Scale), TUG (The Timed Up and Go Test), HSE (hippotherapy simulation exercise), CHE (conventional home exercise)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 18, 2022
Accepted:
August 12,
2022
Received in revised form:
July 19,
2022
Received:
June 15,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
