An Animal-Assisted Physiotherapy Intervention with a Rehabilitation Dog for Walking and Balance Training: A Case Series of Children Living with Cerebral Palsy.
Purpose: Physiotherapy (PT) is an essential part of care for improving function and increasing community participation in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Combining animal-assisted intervention (AAI) with PT (AA-PT) offers a unique approach, potentially boosting motivation and participation in amb...
| Publicado en: | NeuroRehabilitation Vol. 57; no. 3; pp. 363 - 377 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
| Formato: | pictorial research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Sage Publications Inc.
Nov2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=189650214&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 189650214 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 10538135 3RE jtl: NeuroRehabilitation issn: 10538135 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Nov2025 vid: 57 iid: 3 pid: 344 pub: Sage Publications Inc. place: Thousand Oaks, California artinfo: ui: 189650214 186945021 189650214 189650214 10.1177/10538135251353467 189650214 ppf: 363 ppct: 14 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: An Animal-Assisted Physiotherapy Intervention with a Rehabilitation Dog for Walking and Balance Training: A Case Series of Children Living with Cerebral Palsy. aug: au: Caron, Valerie Oates, Alison Pinto, Romany Lanovaz, Joel L Dell, Colleen A Oosman, Sarah Donkers, Sarah J affil: School of Rehabilitation Science, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada sug: subj: Cerebral Palsy Therapy Cerebral Palsy Therapy Therapy Animals Pet Therapy Methods Dogs Physical Therapy Methods Gait Training Balance Training, Physical Health Care Delivery, Integrated Methods Individualized Medicine Confidence Evaluation Comfort Evaluation Patient Safety Evaluation Walking Evaluation Human Male Female Child Adolescence Prospective Studies Case Studies Clinical Assessment Tools Scales Descriptive Statistics Funding Source Child: 6-12 years Adolescent: 13-18 years Male Female ab: Purpose: Physiotherapy (PT) is an essential part of care for improving function and increasing community participation in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Combining animal-assisted intervention (AAI) with PT (AA-PT) offers a unique approach, potentially boosting motivation and participation in ambulatory children with CP. This case series piloted AA-PT integrating a rehabilitation dog for children with CP, to enhance walking and balance training. Methods: Four ambulatory children with CP (7–16 y.o.a, GMFCS I-II, 3 girls, 1 boy) participated in an 8-week individualized AA-PT intervention. Assessments at baseline (0 weeks), pre-intervention (8 weeks), post-intervention (16 weeks), and follow-up (24 weeks) included Kids Mini BESTest, timed up and go (TUG), dual task cost (DTC), and spatiotemporal parameters. The AA-PT included weekly 60-min sessions integrating a rehabilitation dog in walking and balance training. Visual analog scales (VAS) assessed perceived comfort, safety, enjoyment, and confidence while walking with and without the rehabilitation dog. Results: Individual-responder analysis showed improvements in Kids Mini BESTest scores, reduced DTC, and increased walking speed for all. Children reported higher enjoyment, confidence, safety, and comfort when walking with the rehabilitation dog. Conclusion: AA-PT integrating a rehabilitation dog may enhance balance, dual-task cost, walking speed, and confidence in ambulatory children with CP. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: pictorial research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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