Abstract: Breast cancer is the most diagnosed women's cancer, and has a high survival rate. Despite great progress in detection and treatment, life reconstruction requires comprehensive cross-sectoral approaches between different disciplines and deeper consideration of the patient's challenges. Hippotherapy is an emerging specialized rehabilitation approach, performed by accredited health professionals and equine specialists, on specially trained horses via their movement, activating major paths for physical, mental, psychic and social reinforcement, and is synergistic to rehabilitative and supportive care. Methods: We conducted a randomized open, prospective, two-armed, controlled trial on the effectiveness of hippotherapy versus conventional supportive care on adult women with a diagnosis of breast cancer, after the period of primary treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy). The 6-month program included, in the treated group, an initial 1-week daily hippotherapy session, followed by three short 2-day sessions with an interval of 2 months between each, where the patients received conventional supportive care. The control group received 6 months of conventional supportive care. The primary end point was quality of life. Cognitive performances, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and body image were the secondary end points. Measurements were done through self-reported questionnaires. Results: We observed statistical differences in the evolution of the measured parameters over time between the two groups. The hippotherapy group showed a much faster, favorable and continuous improvement until the end of the program for each function assessed. The most striking improvements were observed in global quality of life, and fatigue, while breast cancer-specific quality of life, cognitive performance, anxiety and depression and body image showed a less marked but still statistically significant difference at the final post-treatment evaluation. Conclusions: We demonstrate the therapeutic relevance of hippotherapy, a one-health approach, as a key initial stage after cancer diagnosis and treatment to foster recovery. Furthermore, hippotherapy has a strong impact on cancer treatments' efficiency and reconstruction of patient's life and ecosystem. This work reveals a layer of complexity that needs to be broadly considered. Background: ClincalTrials.gov NCT04350398 accessed on 1 January 2022. Registered 17 April 2020, retrospectively registered; French Clinical Trials in Cancer Register RECF3818. Registered 18 March 2019, retrospectively registered.
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The research study focuses on the impact of hippotherapy (a specialized form of rehabilitation involving horses) on the holistic recovery of women diagnosed with breast cancer, post their primary treatments. The study found that when compared to conventional supportive care, patients who underwent hippotherapy demonstrated significant improvements in mental and physical health parameters, thereby indicating the potential therapeutic benefits of this approach for post-treatment recovery in breast cancer patients.
Experiment Design
The research consisted of a randomized, open, prospective, two-armed, controlled trial investigating the impact of hippotherapy in comparison with conventional supportive care on adult women with a diagnosis of breast cancer after they had undergone primary treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy.
The participants were divided into two groups, with one group receiving the hippotherapy treatments and the other group (the control) only receiving standard supportive care.
The hippotherapy treatment regimen was spread across six months and consisted of daily sessions in the first week followed by three shorter sessions set two months apart. The control group underwent six months of routine care.
The main focus was on evaluating changes in the quality of life of the participants, while secondary considerations were cognitive performance, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and body image.
The researchers used self-reported questionnaires to gauge these parameters.
Results and Findings
The results showed a statistically significant improvement in the parameters measured for the hippotherapy group when compared with the control group. The participants displayed a more rapid and continuous improvement in the quality of life marker and fatigue levels.
Although the other markers (anxiety, depression, body image, and cognitive performance) showed less obvious improvement, they still displayed a significant difference when compared to the pre-treatment evaluation.
The results therefore significantly highlight the therapeutic benefits of hippotherapy for breast cancer patients post-treatment.
Significance and Conclusion
The study underscores the potential role of hippotherapy as an important stage of recovery after breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. It suggests that hippotherapy may have a profound impact on the efficacy of cancer treatments and on reconstructing the patient’s life and environment.
Despite being an initial study, the research reveals a more complex layer to consider when it comes to integrative, cross-disciplinary approaches towards patient care and recovery in breast cancer.
The findings of the study encourage more comprehensive approaches that consider the challenges faced by the patients and the potential for novel rehabilitative methods like hippotherapy to positively impact patient outcomes.
Cite This Article
APA
Viruega H, Galy C, Loriette C, Jacquot S, Houpeau JL, Gaviria M.
(2023).
Breast Cancer: How Hippotherapy Bridges the Gap between Healing and Recovery-A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.
Cancers (Basel), 15(4), 1317.
https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15041317
Equiphoria Institute, Combo Besso Rouges Parets, 48500 La Canourgue, France.
Clinical Neurosciences, Alliance Equiphoria, 4 Res du Sabot, 48500 La Canourgue, France.
Galy, Corinne
Equiphoria Institute, Combo Besso Rouges Parets, 48500 La Canourgue, France.
General and Homeopathic Practitioner, 2 rue Canton, 34090 Montpellier, France.
Loriette, Célia
Clinical Neurosciences, Alliance Equiphoria, 4 Res du Sabot, 48500 La Canourgue, France.
Jacquot, Stéphane
Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Clinique Clémentville, 25 rue de Clémentville, 34070 Montpellier, France.
Houpeau, Jean Louis
Department of Senology, Clinique Clémentville, 25 rue de Clémentville, 34070 Montpellier, France.
Gaviria, Manuel
Equiphoria Institute, Combo Besso Rouges Parets, 48500 La Canourgue, France.
Clinical Neurosciences, Alliance Equiphoria, 4 Res du Sabot, 48500 La Canourgue, France.
Grant Funding
N/A / Fondation Du00f4mes Pharma
N/A / Apicil Pru00e9voyance
N/A / Cru00e9dit Agricole du Languedoc
N/A / Fondation Cru00e9dit Agricole
N/A / Klu00e9sia
Conflict of Interest Statement
H.V. has shares in the Equiphoria Institute and Alliance Equiphoria. The remaining authors declare no competing interests. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.
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