Tuesday, April 27, 2010

A Talk at the University

During my recent speech at the University of Almería on the subject of hippotherapy, part of a larger course on sports therapy for the disabled, I showed a short film made in about 1998 which features a small girl called Sofia who suffered from cerebral palsy. She had no control of her head, arms or body. I always rode behind her to support her and help with her exercises. One of the exercises we would do was to try to get the student to touch the nose, this way he or she could try and find the center of their body. Small children do this automatically while playing, they grasp things in their hands and move it to their mouth, and this is the way they find the center of their body. Sofia was not able to do this exercise so we started by crossing her arms over her tummy, first both arms then one at a time. When she was able to complete this task on her own we worked on touching her nose with both hands together by raising them above her head then down to the nose or from the center of her tummy straight to the nose. Finally she was able to complete this on her own. Another exercise we would do was to hold both of her upper arms and lean way back then lift her shoulders while sitting up into a straight position for her (I was still leaning fairly back, if I sat straight up she would be leaning forward and not learn the feeling of sitting upright and the weight of her head would drop down rounding her whole back and neck). This type of sit-up doesn’t only help them find their center, it also strengthens their neck and back muscles.
A man in the university audience asked me what benefit someone with no possibility to ever walk or do anything for herself would get from these exercises. I was glad he asked this because it helps show the difference between hippotherapy and other types of riding for the disabled. In hippotherapy the student almost never learns to ride but gets the benefit to their health from the exercises on a moving horse I explained that touching the nose may someday help her hold a cup or feed herself. During the other exercises, she was being stretched up, finding what was her center and opening and strengthening the chest so she could breath more easily, during the whole time she was doing these exercises on the horse at a walk she was receiving a massage to her muscles and organs, her circulation was made to work harder sending more blood to her extremities, brain and heart and her digestive system was working on its own. After each class she would be put face-down with her belly over the horse and be walked around for a few minutes while one of the side-walkers would pat her back with a cupped hand to remove fluid from the lungs. People in wheelchairs are unable to remove the liquid the way we do by just walking around.
Sofia is a very intelligent girl and very interested in ecology. She can’t speak but she says a lot with her facial expressions. At the end of these vigorous exercises we take a walk out in the country and go places she can’t go in her wheelchair so she gets to enjoy nature that is usually not available to her.
Here is a photograph of the plaque they gave me for my contribution in the field of hippotherapy and I am writing a chapter in their book on the subject because very little literature on this exists in Spanish. I am also planning on being their liaison between the international groups and new groups starting in Spain. They would like to start encouraging more conferences. Now that the medical community is taking an interest in the findings of the benefits of riding we might start making advances in studies and investigations.


Durante mi ponencia en La Universidad de Almería sobre La Hipoterapia, he enseñado una pequeña película con una niña con parálisis cerebral. Sofía no tiene control del tronco ni de sus brazos ó su cabeza. Yo montaba detrás de ella para dar suporte y mantener su posición. Unos de los ejercicios que hemos hecho eran intentar tocar la nariz, para que ella pudiera encontrar su centro. Niños pequeños lo hace mientras que están jugando sin saber que están aprendiendo algo: todo se pone entre las dos manos y lo suben a la boca. Sofía no era capaz de cumplir este ejercicio, entonces hemos empezada cruzando sus brazos por la barriga, los dos brazos juntos hasta cuando lo ha logrado y después un lado tras otra. Una vez que lo había conseguido por si misma, hemos intentado tocar la nariz con las dos manos juntas. Al final ha conseguido hacerlo sola. Los otros ejercicios eran coger sus hombros y casi tumbada, subir nosotros y yo levantando sus brazos por arriba, y volver a tumbarnos. Solo hemos subido hasta que ella encontraba que era recto, yo todavía estaba bastante tumbada. Si hemos llegado hasta que yo estaba recta ella seria inclinada hacia delante y no puede suportar el peso de su cabeza y tampoco podía aprender donde esta la postura recta. Hemos repetido este ejercicio muchas veces.
Este forma de “abdominales” no solo la ayuda encontrarse recta pero también dar fuerza a los músculos de la espalda y cuello.
Un señor me preguntaba que beneficio tiene todo aquello para una niña que no puede hacer nada por si misma. Estuve contenta para recibir esta pregunta ya que demuestra la diferencia entre la hipoterapia y otros tipos de equinoterapias. En la primera, el jinete casi nunca aprende lo que es "montar a caballo" en sí, pero sí saque el beneficio fisiológico de estar sentado en un caballo andando. He explicado que el ejercicio de tocar la nariz es para que un día al lo mejor podría poner un vaso a su boca o comer por si misma. Durante los otros ejercicios, ella estaba encontrando el centro de su cuerpo, cuando su cuerpo estaba estirada durante el ejercicio, su pecho abría para tener mejor respiración, durante todo el tiempo que el caballo estaba andando, ella estaba recibiendo un masaje a sus músculos y órganos, un efecto así como recibimos cuando nosotros estamos paseando, su sistema digestiva estaba funcionando y su sistema circulatorio tenia que trabajar para irrigar sus extremidades, su cerebro, corazón y el resto de su cuerpo. Ellos no pueden hacer esto en silla de ruedas ni tumbada. Después de la clase, ella hacia “jinete muerto” donde colgaba boca-abajo con su barriga encima del lomo del caballo mientras que uno de los laterales la pegue en la espalda con mano hueca. No la pega fuerte solo bastante para quitar el liquido que se acumula en los pulmones que ellos mismos no pueden evacuar. Sofía es una niña muy inteligente y con mucho interés en ecología. No puede hablar pero su cara dice mucho. Después de la clase fuerte hacemos un paseo por el campo donde ella pude ver cosas que son inaccesibles a ella desde su silla.
Aquí hay una foto de la placa que me regalaron por mi trabajo y voy a hacer un capitulo en su libro sobre este tema. Voy a intentar ser el enlace entre los grupos internacionales y los grupos empezando aquí en España. Ya por que el mundo medico está cogiendo interés en los beneficios que el caballo puede dar, a lo mejor podemos empezar a tener estudios e investigaciones sobre los beneficios.

Monday, April 05, 2010

The Bunny-pig (New to Science)


We always had long haired guinea-pigs and they lived in a cage together with a big white male rabbit, Eccles, who was obviously in love with Mrs. Ingypig. They all lived together quite happily for several years and produced lots of baby guinea-pigs. The interesting thing about guinea-pigs is that they are born like popcorn. They just pop out and are miniature guinea-pigs ready to eat and everything. The mother has to take no care of them, whereas rabbits on the other hand are born with their eyes shut and no hair and in a sack that the mother has to remove. They need to nurse for several weeks, needing the mother’s full attention. One day the male guinea-pig died, leaving the rabbit and Mrs. Ingypig alone (at last!). They lived happily together for about a year when one morning I went out to feed them and found Mrs. Ingypig dead with three babies in sacks with their eyes closed and way to big for her to give birth to and a fourth half way born. I think it is scientifically impossible to cross a rabbit with a guinea-pig but it happened. If it had been the other way around they may have survived because a female rabbit would be big enough and would know how to care for the young, whereas the guinea-pig had no idea how to take off the sacks and nurse plus they were way too big for her body. Later we tried putting a male guinea-pig with a female rabbit for several years but there was no chemistry between them and that was the end of the bunny-pig. We almost had a new breed of animal but the circumstances never were right again.