Heart rate response to therapeutic riding in children with cerebral palsy: an exploratory study.

The study investigates how therapeutic horseback riding impacts the heart rates of children with cerebral palsy who have varying levels of disability severity.

Methodology

• The study included eight children with cerebral palsy, categorized as either ambulatory (able to walk with or without support) or wheelchair dependent.
• Each participant underwent 10 weekly 20-minute sessions of therapeutic horseback riding.
• The researchers deployed continuous digital heart rate monitoring throughout each session to capture accurate data of heart rate response to the therapy.

Results

• Findings showed that average heart rates, median and peak heart rates, and peak percentage rates were notably higher in the wheelchair-dependent group compared to the ambulatory group.
• This implied that the children with severe disability levels, specifically classified as level IV in the Gross Motor Function Classification System, showed higher heart rate values during the therapeutic riding session.

Conclusions and Further Studies

• The study concludes that children reliant on wheelchairs due to severe cerebral palsy experienced higher heart rate values during therapeutic riding than children with milder forms of cerebral palsy who can walk with or without support.
• This finding suggests that heart rate could potentially serve as an indicator to measure the intensity and possibly the effectiveness of therapeutic riding in children with severe cerebral palsy.
• However, before any decisive conclusions can be made, further studies are recommended to explore the importance of monitoring heart rate response during therapeutic riding and its implications in therapeutic outcomes.