Equine therapy, also known as hippotherapy, continues to grow in popularity for numerous reasons. This alternative approach uses the gait of a horse as a tool for physical, cognitive behavioral, and speech therapy. As it proceeds to change countless lives, helping people recover and strengthen skills, it rises in fame. Here are five reasons for equine therapy’s progressive growth in popularity.
1. Numerous Benefits
Equine therapy provides numerous benefits. Physically, it helps people strengthen their core, straighten their posture, improve their motor skills, and increase their flexibility. Mentally, it brings people joy, keeps them engaged, and boosts confidence. On top of benefiting clients, equine therapy also offers perks to therapists and therapeutic businesses. Practicing and offering equine therapy improves retention rates and adds a unique and fruitful service to one’s clinic.
2. Successful Track Records
Popularity and reputation go hand in hand. The better your reputation, the more popular you become. Equine therapy continuely produces success stories, enhancing and benefiting numerous lives. With all the benefits and differences it makes, equine therapy builds better relationships with clients and boosts a clinic’s reputation, bringing in and maintaining a steady stream of visitors.
3. Therapeutic Advancements
Traditionally, equine therapy uses actual horses. However, with technological advancements, a new and modern form of equine therapy came to fruition, allowing therapists to provide equine therapy without needing horses. A horse riding simulator and exercise machine simulates a horse’s gait, recreating the horse riding experience without the horse. This therapeutic advancement allows therapists to offer equine therapy in their clinic, control different walk speeds, and gain better control over their therapy sessions. Plus, it makes equine therapy more accessible, increasing its reach and popularity.
4. Versatile Patient Reach
In hand with the increased accessibility, equine therapy’s versatile reach also plays a major part in the therapy’s rise to fame. Since it’s an approach for various therapy forms, like cognitive behavioral and physical, equine therapy reaches numerous populations. From children with autism to those recovering from strokes, hippotherapy helps a range of people.
5. Increased Exposure
Equine therapy is a godsend for people who found little success with traditional forms of therapy. Although still considered an alternative form of therapy, many clinics now offer equine therapy. With equine therapy added, the clinics can offer multiple support systems. Equine therapy being a more common aid in clinics increased its exposure.
The growth in equine therapy’s popularity gives many people a new form of therapy to try. As new advancements and adaptations of continue to arise over time, its popularity will also continue to progress, enhancing countless lives along the way. Whether you’re a therapist or a caregiver, adding hippotherapy to your services gives you numerous rewards and helps spread awareness about equine therapy and all it offers.