title: Comparison between the robo-horse and real horse movements for hippotherapy.
abstract: While the novel robotic hippotherapy system has gradually gained clinical application for therapeutic intervention on postural and locomotor control in individuals with neurological or musculoskeletal impairments, the system's validity and reliability for the robotic hippotherapy system has not been well established. The objective of the current study was to investigate the validity and test-retest reliability of the robotic hippotherapy system by comparing with real horse movements. The 3-axis accelerometer sensors attached on the robotic and real horse saddles were used to collect 3-dimensional acceleration data at a preferred walking velocity. Linear regression analysis showed an excellent correlation in the time-to-peak acceleration (TPA) (R(2)=0.997), but little correlation in X-axis acceleration between the real and robotic horses (R(2)=0.177), thus confirming consistent time control and a certain degree of variability between the robotic and real horse movements. The mean resultant accelerations for a real horse and robotic horse were 3.22 m/s(2) and 0.67 m/s(2), respectively, accounting for almost five times greater acceleration in the real horse than the robotic horse.
authors.affiliation: Movement Healing Laboratory, Department of Physical Therapy, Yonsei University, 1 Yonseidae-gil, Wonju 220-701, Republic of South Korea.
authors.forename: Ji H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Human Performance Laboratory, Program in Occupational Therapy, Washington University in Saint. Louis, School of Medicine, 4444 Forest Park Ave. Box 8505, St. Louis, MO USA.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shurtleff
authors.affiliation: Human Performance Laboratory, Program in Occupational Therapy, Washington University in Saint. Louis, School of Medicine, 4444 Forest Park Ave. Box 8505, St. Louis, MO USA.
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Engsberg
authors.affiliation: Therapeutic Horsemanship, 332 Stable Lane, Wentzville, MO USA.
authors.forename: Sandy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rafferty
authors.affiliation: Wydown Middle School, 6500 Wydown, Clayton, MO USA.
authors.forename: Joshua Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: Clayton High School, #1 Mark Twain Circle, Clayton, MO USA.
authors.forename: Isaac Y
authors.initials: IY
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: Movement Healing Laboratory, Department of Physical Therapy, Yonsei University, 1 Yonseidae-gil, Wonju 220-701, Republic of South Korea.
authors.forename: Sung H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: You
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D000715:Anatomy; D000818:Animals; D056147:Equine-Assisted Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006736:Horses / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Robotic hippotherapy; acceleration