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Pilot Study of the Influence of Equine Assisted Therapy on Physiological and Behavioral Parameters Related to Welfare of Horses and Patients.

ABSTRACT: Different welfare indicators were studied in three patients with psychomotor alterations and in two horses throughout 9-10 equine assisted therapy sessions in each patient. In horses, heart and respiratory rates, blood pressure, temperature and behavioral signs were studied. In patients, heart rate, oxygen saturation, temperature, sleep quality, psychomotor and emotional parameters were analyzed. Data collection was recorded in the anticipatory phase (15 min before the start of the session), two interaction phases (after 30 min of horse-patient interaction on the ground and on horseback, respectively) and the recovery phase (15 min after the end of the session). During the anticipatory phase, most of physiological parameters of patients and horses and the stress behavioral signs of horses increased, followed by a relaxing phase during the horse-patient interaction on the ground. In horse-patient riding phase the heart and respiratory rates of the horses again increased. These results showed that the horses did not seem to suffer stress attributable to the therapy sessions, but only an increase in their parameters associated with activity and external stimuli. The patients improved their gross and fine motor skills, their cognitive and perceptual-sensitive parameters and it led to an improvement in the life quality of their families.

SUBMITTER: Ayala MD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8698107 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:A proposition addressed here is that, although bitted horses are viewed by many equestrians as being largely free of bit-related mouth pain, it seems likely that most behavioural signs of such pain are simply not recognised. Background information is provided on the following: the major features of pain generation and experience; cerebrocortical involvement in the conscious experience of pain by mammals; the numerous other subjective experiences mammals can have; adjunct physiological responses to pain; some general feature of behavioural responses to pain; and the neural bases of sensations generated within the mouth. Mouth pain in horses is then discussed. The areas considered exclude dental disease, but they include the stimulation of pain receptors by bits in the interdental space, the tongue, the commissures of the mouth, and the buccal mucosa. Compression, laceration, inflammation, impeded tissue blood flow, and tissue stretching are evaluated as noxious stimuli. The high pain sensitivity of the interdental space is described, as are likely increases in pain sensitivity due to repeated bit contact with bruises, cuts, tears, and/or ulcers wherever they are located in the mouth. Behavioural indices of mouth pain are then identified by contrasting the behaviours of horses when wearing bitted bridles, when changed from bitted to bit-free bridles, and when free-roaming unbitted in the wild. Observed indicative behaviours involve mouth movements, head-neck position, and facial expression ("pain face"), as well as characteristic body movements and gait. The welfare impacts of bit-related pain include the noxiousness of the pain itself as well as likely anxiety when anticipating the pain and fear whilst experiencing it, especially if the pain is severe. In addition, particular mouth behaviours impede airflow within the air passages of the upper respiratory system, effects that, in their turn, adversely affect the air passages in the lungs. Here, they increase airflow resistance and decrease alveolar gas exchange, giving rise to suffocating experiences of breathlessness. In addition, breathlessness is a likely consequence of the low jowl angles commonly maintained during dressage. If severe, as with pain, the prospect of breathlessness is likely to give rise to anxiety and the direct experience of breathlessness to fear. The related components of welfare compromise therefore likely involve pain, breathlessness, anxiety, and fear. Finally, a 12-point strategy is proposed to give greater impetus to a wider adoption of bit-free bridles in order to avoid bit-induced mouth pain.

Project description:BackgroundAssisted gait with forearm crutches is frequently performed during the recovery of musculoskeletal injuries of the lower limb. The amount of body weight applied to the crutch or crutches depends on the pathology and the treatment phase. The transition from assisted gait with two crutches to a single crutch is usually recommended when the subject is able to load the 50% of the body weight upon the affected member. An altered assisted gait will cause biomechanic alterations and, therefore, longer treatments and relapses. The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of 10, 25 and 50% of body weight applied to a forearm crutch during a unilateral assisted gait in the spatial and temporal step parameters to determine the load that produces alterations in gait biomechanics and the load that does not.MethodsEleven healthy subjects performed normal gait (NG) and assisted gait with a forearm crutch, in which the applied loads were: comfortable (C), 25 and 50% of their body weight. Vicon System was employed for gait recording. GCH System 2.0 and GCH Control Software 1.0 controlled the loads. The variables were: step length, step period, velocity, step width and step angle. Friedman test compared all the gait modalities: NG and the different loads. Wilcoxon signed-rank test analyzed ipsilateral and contralateral step parameters to the crutch globally and for each subject.ResultsFriedman test showed significant differences between NG, C, 25 and 50%, especially for step period and velocity. Wilcoxon test had significant differences only in 4 of the 20 general comparisons between ipsilateral and contralateral steps to the crutch. In the analysis by subjects, step length, step period and velocity showed 79/132, 110/132 and 58/66 significant differences, respectively.ConclusionsThe increase in the load exerted over a forearm crutch produced an increase in the step period, accompanied by a reduction of step length and gait velocity. Step width and step angle were not modified. The unloading of 25 and 50% of body weight on a single crutch is incorrect from the biomechanical point of view. Two crutches should be employed when the body weight to unload exceeds 10%.

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Pilot Study of the Influence of Equine Assisted Therapy on Physiological and Behavioral Parameters Related to Welfare of Horses and Patients.

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