EQUOTHERAPY IN CHILDREN CARRIERS OF CEREBRAL PARALYSIA

Abstract

Introduction: Cerebral palsy is characterized as a chronic non-progressive encephalopathy of childhood, and is characterized by motor and posture disorders. It is classified according to the forms, location of the lesion, etiology and topographic distribution of lesions in the central nervous system. Equine therapy is the method that uses the horse as a physiotherapeutic tool in the rehabilitation of various neurological pathologies, including cerebral palsy. Objective: An integrative literature review was carried out to verify the effect of hippotherapy on children with cerebral palsy. Materials and Methods: This is an integrative review, based on data collection from secondary sources, through a bibliographic survey, the inclusion criteria were selected articles published between 2002 and 2018, in Portuguese and English, for children with cerebral palsy at different ages and who were undergoing equine therapy. The analysis of the articles was carried out by reading the title, summary and introduction. Results: This is a descriptive study with a qualitative approach, carried out through a bibliographic survey in the SciELO, PubMed, LILACS, Google Scholar and Bireme databases. 8 scientific articles were selected, based on the descriptors "Equine therapy", "cerebral palsy", "rehabilitation". All evidence pointed to consistent conclusions about the benefits of practicing hippotherapy on the health of children with cerebral palsy. Conclusion: in the present study it is concluded that hippotherapy generates positive effects for the treatment of children with cerebral palsy, however there is a need for more studies as there is little material on the subject.