What is physical therapy-hippotherapy?
Hippotherapy is therapy utilizing equine movement. Our licensed physical therapist and physical therapy assistant combine physical therapy knowledge and techniques utilizing the equine movement and the equine environment to help you/your child reach your physical therapy goals. Everyone starts with an evaluation from our licensed physical therapist followed by working with you to develop a personalized treatment plan to work towards your specific therapy goals. These goals will be physical therapy oriented such as head control, sitting tolerance/independence, standing balance, walking, stair negotiation, running, jumping, catching/throwing, etc. Sessions will be billed under physical therapy codes to your insurance, covered by insurance similarly to clinic physical therapy. Hippotherapy can, and often should, be in conjunction with clinic physical therapy in order to complement and maximize progress towards physical therapy goals.
Who would benefit from physical therapy utilizing hippotherapy?
Anyone who benefits from physical therapy! Do you find yourself and your child spending too much time spent in hospitals, classrooms, doctors offices? Perhaps your child is burnt out from therapy or doesn't tolerate clinic therapy? Do they need a new environment, more time outdoors, and the calming effects of animals? Then your child may need hippotherapy! We see kids 3 years old and up, including adults! While we see a wide variety of medical diagnosis and this is not an all inclusive list, a few examples that benefit greatly include: cerebral palsy, down syndrome, genetic disorders, low-tone, high-tone, developmental delay, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, post-stroke, autism, and so much more!
