Hippotherapy versus Traditional Physiotherapy on Gait in Spastic Diaplegic Children

Objectives: The objective of this review is to determine the effect of hippo therapy on hip angles during stance phase in diaplegic children.

Method: Thirty diaplegic cerebral palsied children of both sexes, ranged in age from 9 to 11 years enrolled in this study. They randomly assigned into two groups of equal number; control group (A), study group (B). Group (A) groups received the conventional neurodevelopmental physical therapy plan for such cases. Whereas group (B) received the same conventional physical therapy program in addition to hippo therapy program for 45 minute. All children were assessed before and after the treatment program by using 2D video based gait assessment system to measure the hip angles during stance phase.

Results: This study showed a statistically significant improvement in both groups by comparing the mean values of all measured variables before and after treatment. There were significant differences between groups A and B in favor of group B with respect to all assessed variables when comparing the post-treatment outcomes.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that hippo therapy program can be included as an alternative therapeutic modality to enhance hip angles in children with spastic diplegia.