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Comparison between the robo-horse and real horse movements for hippotherapy

Issue title: Frontiers in Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology – Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, 25–28 September 2014, Beijing, China

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Park, Ji H. | Shurtleff, Timothy | Engsberg, Jack | Rafferty, Sandy | You, Joshua Y. | You, Isaac Y. | You, Sung H.;

Affiliations: Movement Healing Laboratory, Department of Physical Therapy, Yonsei University, 1 Yonseidae-gil, Wonju 220-701, Republic of South Korea | 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 | Therapeutic Horsemanship, 332 Stable Lane, Wentzville, MO USA | Wydown Middle School, 6500 Wydown, Clayton, MO USA | Clayton High School, #1 Mark Twain Circle, Clayton, MO USA

Note: [] Corresponding author: Sung H. You, Movement Healing Laboratory, Department of Physical Therapy, Yonsei University, 1 Yonseidae-gil, Wonju 220-701, Republic of South Korea. Tel.: +82 33 760 2476; Fax: +82 33 760 2496; E-mail: [email protected].

Keywords: Robotic hippotherapy, acceleration

DOI: 10.3233/BME-141076

Journal: Bio-Medical Materials and Engineering, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 2603-2610, 2014

Published: 2014
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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) (R2=0.997), but little correlation in X-axis acceleration between the real and robotic horses (R2=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/s2 and 0.67 m/s2, respectively, accounting for almost five times greater acceleration in the real horse than the robotic horse.

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