The effect of life kinetic combined mechanical hippotherapy program on balance, gross motor skills and postural control of children with cerebral palsy

Purpose: This study was carried out to reveal the effect of life kinetic combined mechanical hippotherapy on balance, gross motor skills and postural development of children with cerebral palsy. Method: 40 patients with diparetic and hemiparetic cerebral palsy who came to Başkent University Training and Research Hospital were included in this study on a voluntary basis. Family members of 6 people in our study did not want to participate when we explained our study. Participants underwent GMFCS and MACS tests before the 6-week exercise program and individuals who met our study criteria were recruited. At the end of these tests, 1 individual with GMFCS 2 and 2 individuals with MACS level 2 were excluded from our study. The remaining n=30 people were randomly divided into 3 groups each. All groups will receive 1 hour of traditional physical therapy. The first group received CP-adapted life kinetic exercises + mechanical hippotherapy for 35 minutes, and the second group received 35 minutes of mechanical hippotherapy. Only traditional physical therapy methods were applied to the third group. The study was applied 3 days a week for 6 weeks. During the study, 2 people from the life kinetic + mechanical hypotherapy group were absent from the treatment, and 2 people from the control group were excluded because they did not participate in the post-test. A participant information form will be used to determine the demographic characteristics of the participants. Before the 6-week exercise program, homogeneous patients will be recruited with the GMFCS and MACS classification scales. Before and after the 6-week application, Trunk Influence Scale (GES), Gross Motor Function Scale (GMF-88), Pediatric Berg Balance Scale (PBSS), Timed stand up and walk test, Statistical analysis and evaluations; SPSS 21 package program was used. Results: When the pre-test and post-test mean measurement parameters of the Life Kinetic+Hipotherapy Group were compared; In Gross Motor Tests, a significant improvement was observed as the last measurement mean values of the LCH group were higher than the pre-measurement values. In addition, pediatric balance test results were higher than the first measurement tests in the last measurement tests, and a significant improvement was recorded (p=0.011). Conclusion: The hippotherapy exercise program combined with life kinetics improved the balance, gross motor skills, etc. of individuals with cerebral palsy compared to other groups. More improvements were seen in the parameters. We recommend a combined hypotherapy exercise program with life kinetics in addition to traditional treatment methods for individuals with cerebral palsy. Keywords: Life Kinetics, Hippotherapy, Cerebral Palsy, Balance, Attention, Postural Control