motion | Horse Racing Free Tips

When an injury requires a horse to be on stall rest, the owner often has more time to fawn and fuss over it. Even the most devoted owner, however, cannot monitor her horse 24/7, and this means subtle changes in movement that could indicate a potential setback during recovery might go unnoticed. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) can help owners track the movement of stall-bound horses and help owners recognize when a complication might be looming.

“An IMU consists of small, wearable sensors that record information about a horse's movement, particularly the type, speed, and step count,” explained Catherine Whitehouse, M.S., a Kentucky Equine Research nutritionist. For many injuries, successful rehabilitation depends on a certain amount of movement. “Bearing weight during rehabilitation promotes circulation by delivering nutrients and oxygen to the injured tissues,” Whitehouse said.

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Decreased mobility of an injured horse during stall confinement could be an early indication of poorly managed pain or a potentially life-threatening complication. If identified early, specific interventions can be implemented, such as improved pain management and alterations in the rehabilitation protocol.

To assess the validity of a commercial IMU, a Canadian veterinary team recruited six horses.^* Sensors were placed at three different locations on the same horse (withers, right forelimb, and right hindlimb), and the horse's movements measured on the IMU were compared to direct observation.

“The data showed that the limb sensors accurately counted steps in stalled horses,” Whitehouse said. “The IMU proved itself a valuable tool in the early detection of movement reduction that could signal pain or complications and ultimately improve patient outcome.”

Another way to support horses during layup is by offering a nutritional supplement designed to support the skeletal system.

^*Steinke, S.L., J.B. Montgomery, and J.M. Barden. 2021. Accelerometry-based step count validation for horse movement analysis during stall confinement. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8:681213.

Article reprinted courtesy of Kentucky Equine Research (KER). Visit equinews.com for the latest in equine nutrition and management, and subscribe to The Weekly Feed to receive these articles directly (equinews.com/newsletters).

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Cerebral palsy (CP) affects around two out of every 1000 children born worldwide. Physical therapy is the foremost way of improving movement, balance and posture in children with CP. Research has shown that hippotherapy, a form of physical therapy involving horseback riding, is effective for treating CP. But how exactly does it help? In a recent study, researchers from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) in South Korea explored this question and provided insightful answers as well as a baseline for future research.

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a common disability among children, characterized by abnormal gait patterns and the inability to maintain posture and balance. While the condition is incurable, physical therapy treatments can go a long way in improving movement and balance. One such treatment approach is hippotherapy (HPOT), which uses horseback riding to improve functional mobility in children with CP. Although supported by scientific studies as an effective treatment approach for (CP), there is, unfortunately, little data concerning how HPOT results in improvement.

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Recently, a team of researchers from Korea and the United States addressed this question, investigating physical interaction metrics between horses and children with CP during HPOT. “My original research interests lie in the rehabilitation of people with neurological impairment, specifically gait and balance. However, I did not know about hippotherapy until 2016. After realizing how effective it is in treating children with CP, I was motivated to explore it further,” explains Dr. Pilwon Hur, who headed the study. This paper was made available online on September 6, 2021, and was published in Volume 18 Issue 132 of the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation.

The research team studied four children with CP over the course of eight physical therapy sessions. They placed sensors on the horses and children to record their movements and track their acceleration and angular velocity. They found that the data from the horses and children began to resemble each other as time progressed, indicating a synchronization between the horse and the rider. They also gave the children mobility tests after each session and observed improvement in their motor skills at the end of the experiment.

“We found that physical interaction between the children with CP and the horses, characterized by the children adapting to the horse's movement and vice versa, is extremely important for the rehabilitation to be effective,” says Dr. Hur.

Excited by these findings, the team hopes their work will provide a baseline for further research on HPOT. “To the best of my knowledge, ours is the first study to quantify these interactions and relate them to effectiveness,” says Dr. Hur. “Such an understanding would help us optimize physical therapy programs, improving the quality of life for children with CP.”

The post Scientists Confirm Horseback Riding A Viable Mobility Treatment For Cerebral Palsy appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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