Improving Quality of Life in Children with Cerebral Palsy Through Animal Assisted Therapy With Ponies
Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) the therapy that use animals to help in the treatment of humans, has been shown to be an important tool to help to improve quality of life, self-steem, self-image, emotional awareness, developed communication skills, reducing anxiety and aggressivity1,2,3,4,5. Hippotherapy (called Equoteraphy in Brazil) is one therapy that used a horse to enhance mechanical and neurological improvements on patients with neurological diseases or orthopedical problems6,7,8. In this case AAT with pony was used for children to brush, caress, holder and take a little time of pony riding (5-10mins) once a week, with excellent results in three children with CP, who were able to remain seated after three weeks of therapy; and the tetraplegic teenager in a wheelchair began to move his limbs and react to the sensation of pain in them, after two months of practice. In this practice, two techniques were used with the principles of Acupuncture- deficiency/stagnation of Yang Qi, and Chiropractic-unblocking of joints-especially vertebrae, and improvement of the movement of the Cerebrospinal fluid. Would it be the sum of the techniques used that allowed a tetraplegic patient to acquire sensitivity to pain and movement of limbs?
