Researchers say therapeutic horseback riding, or hippotherapy, can improve balance, fatigue, and pain in people with multiple sclerosis.
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Could horseback riding help ease multiple sclerosis symptoms?
One study out of Germany concluded that a horseback riding therapy known as hippotherapy along with standard care significantly improved balance, fatigue, motor function, and spasticity in people with multiple sclerosis (MS).
The primary outcome of the study was the change in the Berg Balance Scale (BBS).
The BBS is a widely used clinical test of a person’s balance abilities, with additional measures including fatigue, pain, quality of life, and spasticity.
The research was initiated by Marion Drache, chair of the executive board of Zentrum für Therapeutisches Reiten Johannisberg e.V., which is a nonprofit organization for hippotherapy focused on high-level scientific studies on therapeutic riding since 2004.
“Hippotherapy is different than regular horseback riding,” Drache told Healthline.
She explained hippotherapy is a physiotherapy treatment based on a neurophysiological approach. It works by “transmitting the three-dimensional movements generated by the horse’s slow gait (walk) to the patient,” she said.
How the riding works
Specially trained horses are guided in a large circle in slow, rhythmic, and methodical gaits as the hippotherapists use the horses’ energy and movement to work with each patient.
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