The DOI matches its Crossref record; 14 of the 14 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 8 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.
The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance
Open accessAbstract
Introduction. Impaired motor control in children with infantile cerebral palsy (ICP) frequently leads to mobility limitations. Aim. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of hippotherapy on maintaining postural balance and gait in children with ICP. Material and methods. A total of thirty children with spastic diplegia, aged 8-13 years, participated in the study. All children took part in a two-week hippotherapy program. The Tinetti and Timed Up and Go (TUG) tests were used to investigate the quality of their postural balance and gait. All tests were performed before and after therapeutic horseback riding. Results. After the two weeks of therapy, a statistically significant (p<0.05) improvement in balance maintenance and gait performance was observed in all children. Conclusion. 1. Hippotherapy sessions significantly improved the level of postural balance in children with ICP. 2. Equine-assisted therapy (EAT) positively affected the quality of gait and significantly decreased the risk of accidental falls in children who participated in the rehabilitation program.
Overview
AI snapshot
Written from the paper’s full text.
TL;DR
A two-week hippotherapy program in 30 children with spastic diplegic infantile cerebral palsy was associated with statistically significant improvements in postural balance, gait, and fall risk. The study used a pre-post design without a control group.
Key findings
- Tinetti balance scores improved from a mean of 9.03 to 10.83 points after therapy (mean difference 1.8 points; p < 0.05).
- Tinetti gait scores improved from 7.6 to 8.57 points (mean difference 0.97 points; p < 0.05).
- General Tinetti scores improved from 16.63 to 19.40 points (mean difference 2.77 points; p < 0.05); high fall risk decreased from 15 to 11 children, fall-prone from 14 to 9, and low fall risk increased from 1 to 10.
- Timed Up and Go test time decreased from 11.97 s to 10.93 s (mean difference 1.03 s; p < 0.05).
Methods
- Thirty children with ICP (spastic diplegia), aged 8–13 years, including 19 girls and 11 boys, participated; inclusion required mild hemiplegia spastica or diplegia spastica, medical clearance, independent locomotion, and communication ability.
- All children received 30-minute hippotherapy sessions daily Monday to Friday for two weeks at the Hippotherapy Centre in Stróże, in March 2016, with no other therapies during the program.
- Postural balance and gait were assessed before and after therapy using the Tinetti test and Timed Up and Go test; analysis used Statistica v.10, Shapiro-Wilk test, paired t-test for dependent samples, and α = 0.05.
Limitations
- The paper states the study is limited by the lack of comparison to controls.
- The text makes evident a small sample (n = 30), a short two-week intervention, and no follow-up assessment; the discussion notes that long-term effects after program completion still lack research.
Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
5 Sources not found · 5 Own result · 3 Own method · 2 Own interpretation
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“Therapeutic effects caused by the horse gait were confirmed by many research projects.7,13,14”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [7]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites [13]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites [14]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
boostedstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Impaired postural control belongs to one of the most serious locomotion problems of children with ICP which cause limitations in performing everyday activities. 1”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [1]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The study is limited by the lack of comparing its results to the controls.”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Study Limitations
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Hippotherapy sessions significantly improved the level of postural balance in children with ICP.”
- Also stated in: § Conclusion · plain
“Hippotherapy significantly improved postural balance in children with ICP.”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Abstract
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Rests on an assumption: The observed improvements in balance and gait are attributable to hippotherapy rather than to other factors such as natural development, repeated testing, or placebo effects.
- Rests on an assumption: The sample of 30 children with spastic diplegia is representative of children with ICP generally.
- Also stated in: § Conclusion · plain
In the paper
“Different movements of the horse present challenges to the rider to promote different postural responses, which among others affect their muscle tone, control of the head and neck posture, postural balance, stability of the trunk and performance of the limbs.”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [11]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
- It may state two separate claims as one. 9
- The quote only partly states this claim. 3
- Probably not a substantial claim. 3
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Based on the statistical analysis of the Tinetti test assessing postural balance, it was discovered that the mean score before the therapy was 9.03 pts, and after the hippotherapy program it was 10.83 pts.The therapy conducted statistically significantly (p < 0.05) improved the score in the test and the mean difference was 1.8 pts (Table 1).”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Results
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one. The quote only partly states this claim.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The statistical analysis of the TUG test revealed that the mean score before the therapy was 11.97 s, and after the therapy it was 10.93 s.Rehabilitation consisting of hippotherapy sessions significantly shortened the performance time of the TUG test (p < 0.05), and the mean difference was 1.03 s (Table 4).”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Results
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one. The quote only partly states this claim.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Based on the Tinetti test conducted before hippotherapy, 15 out of a total of 30 participants had a high risk of falls, 14 were prone to a fall, and 1 child had a low risk of a fall.After the two weeks of hippotherapy, the comparison of general results of the Tinetti test revealed a statistically significant improvement (p < 0.05) since only 11 participants had a high risk of falls, 9 were prone”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Results
plainstates a causen = 30 ·- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Based on the gait assessment part of the Tinetti test, it was observed that the mean score before the therapy was 7.6 pts, and after the therapy it was 8.57 pts.A statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) was found between the scores obtained in the gait assessing part before and after the therapy.The therapy implemented significantly improved the score in the test and its mean score differe”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Results
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one. The quote only partly states this claim.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The mean result before the therapy was 16.63 pts, and after the therapy it was 19.40 pts.Those differences were statistically signif- icant (p < 0.05).The hippotherapy program significantly improved the general result of the test and the mean difference was 2.77 pts (Table 3).”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Results
plainstates a causen = 30 ·- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Equine-assisted therapy (EAT) positively affected the quality of gait and significantly decreased the risk of accidental falls in children who participated in the rehabilitation program.”
- Also stated in: § Conclusion · plain
“Equine-assisted therapy positively affected the quality of gait and significantly decreased the risk of accidental falls in children who participated in the rehabilitation program.”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Abstract
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Rests on an assumption: The observed improvements in balance and gait are attributable to hippotherapy rather than to other factors such as natural development, repeated testing, or placebo effects.
- Rests on an assumption: The sample of 30 children with spastic diplegia is representative of children with ICP generally.
- Also stated in: § Conclusion · plain
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Because the variables met the criteria for a normal distribution, the significance of differences was assessed by means of the t-Student test for dependent samples.”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Statistical analysis
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“During the two week hippotherapy program children did not participate in any other therapies.”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Material and methods
plainn = 30- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
In the paper
“Hippotherapy may beneficially affect the central nervous system and locomotor patterns trained during the therapeutic horse riding and it may improve locomotor patterns of the child in their everyday activities. 1”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [1]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedgedstates a possible cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“Hippotherapy affects physical, cognitive, social, mental, and behavioural and communication spheres and that is why it is used to rehabilitate persons with ICP, Down syndrome, autism, multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury, muscular dystrophy and postural deformities, difficulties in learning and in sensory disturbances.”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [7]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites [8]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
The paper relies on this without support.
The observed improvements in balance and gait are attributable to hippotherapy rather than to other factors such as natural development, repeated testing, or placebo effects.
“Hippotherapy significantly improved postural balance in children with ICP.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The sample of 30 children with spastic diplegia is representative of children with ICP generally.
“A total of 30 children, including 19 girls and 11 boys, with ICP (the spastic diplegia CP) within intellectual norm participated in the study.”
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Abstract
“After the two weeks of therapy, a statistically significant (p<0.05)improvement in balance maintenance and gait performance was observed in all children.”
§ Edyta Mikołajczyk 1(ABCDFG) , Beata Ligęza 2(BCEFG) , Agnieszka Jankowicz-Szymańska 3(ADEFG) The effect of hippotherapy on postural balance > Conclusion
“| 2 after therapy | | 10,83 | 3,99 | 16 | 0 | | | |”
Citations
Cites
The publisher hasn’t deposited this paper’s reference list.
Research works printed but not linked: 5
- Gomulska K, Sadowska L, Krefft A, Gomulska K, Mazur A. Wczesne prognozowanie wystąpienia mózgowego poraże- nia dziecięcego (mpd) u niemowląt w aspekcie syntetycz- nej analizy czynników ryzyka. Prz Med Uniw Rzesz Inst Leków. 2006;1:47-58.
- Rosenbaum P, Paneth N, Leviton A, et al. A report: the defi- nition and classification of cerebral palsy. April 2006. Dev Med Child Neurol. Supplement 2007;109:8-14.
- Włodarczyk A, Gasinska M. Principles of Polish hippother- apy. Med Rehabil. 2002;3:73-5.
- Sawaryn D. Właściwości konia i mechanizm oddziaływania terapeutycznego. Fizjoterapia. 2008;1:104-11.
- Bertoti DB. Effect of therapeutic horseback riding on posture in children with cerebral palsy. Phys Ther. 1988;10:1505-12.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Assessing Dynamic Balance in Children with Cerebral Palsy
Niiler, T. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-50592-3_49-1 · Cited by 7
Assessing Dynamic Balance in Children with Cerebral Palsy
Niiler, T. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-74558-9_49 · Cited by 4
Virtual Reality Hippotherapy Simulator: A Model Proposal for Senior Citizens
Ortet, C. P., Vairinhos, M., Veloso, A. I., & Costa, L. V. (2023) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-34866-2_42 · Cited by 2
ΕΝΑΛΛΑΚΤΙΚΕΣ ΘΕΡΑΠΕΥΤΙΚΕΣ ΠΡΟΣΕΓΓΙΣΕΙΣ -ΙΠΠΟΘΕΡΑΠΕΙΑ- ΓΙΑ ΠΑΙΔΙΑ ΜΕ ΚΙΝΗΤΙΚΕΣ ΑΝΑΠΗΡΙΕΣ
ΧΑΛΚΙΟΠΟΥΛΟΥ, Σ. (2020) · Πανελλήνιο Συνέδριο Επιστημών Εκπαίδευσης · doi:10.12681/edusc.2812
Help-Diagnosis System for Trunk Alignment Evaluation of People with Intellectual Disabilities
Gomes, P., Torrinha, A., Costa, A. N., Lousada, A., Costa, J. M., Moreira, F., Dantas, O., de Oliveira, R. T., dos Santos, F. C., & Lima, C. (2020) · IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering (BIBE) · doi:10.1109/bibe50027.2020.00121
Sever, E. (2024) · Repository of the University of Ljubljana (University of Ljubljana)
Metadata
- Authors
- Section of Kinesitherapy, D. O. P., Mikołajczyk, E., Ligęza, B., The Foundation for People with Disabilities, S., Jankowicz-Szymańska, A., & Section of Physical Education, D. O. H. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Physical Culture in Kraków (PL)
- ORCID
- Mikołajczyk, Edyta
- Venue
- European Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine
- Publisher
- University of Rzeszow
- Published
- 2017
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 45-49
- ISSN
- 2544-1361 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2734432235
- Semantic Scholar
- 9862e9487906f57d133bb80413dc9f8e3daa30ed
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2023: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 1.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- journals.ur.edu.pl
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- European Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (publishedVersion)
- European Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rehabilitation › Cerebral Palsy and Movement Disorders
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Children's Physical and Motor Development
- Keywords
- hippotherapy, equine-assisted therapy, infantile cerebral palsy, spastic diplegia, postural stability, gait, children, fall risk, motor control
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-11-10, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-11-10 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
