[… and Riding as Well? Case Report about the Treatment of an Infant with Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome].

Background: There is a growing number of children surviving birth complications with severe, multiple disabilities. Unfortunately, this is not paralleled by equal growth in knowledge about adequate therapeutic approaches. Some publications showed that Hippotherapy could, under certain circumstances, be a very useful complimentary therapy for a range of disabilities. But it remains unclear if riding could even help a quadriplegic individual with multiple brain damage and tracheal ventilation.

Method: In this case study we examined the effect of horse riding on the mobility of joints and heart rate in a little girl with multiple disabilities.

Results: We found a statistically significant increase in joint mobility and a significant decrease in the heart-rate (down to a normal resting frequency). We also had a rather unexpected effect of the hippotherapy. Namely, while on horseback, the girl demonstrated a sufficient spontaneous breathing. No additional oxygen was needed.

Conclusion: Horse-back riding helped our patient to reduce her symptoms. Therefore, it showed clear positive effects even for a girl with severe and multiple disabilities.