ArticleNeuroRehabilitation2025
An Animal-Assisted Physiotherapy Intervention with a Rehabilitation Dog for Walking and Balance Training: A Case Series of Children Living with Cerebral Palsy.
Article in NeuroRehabilitation, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
PurposePhysiotherapy (PT) is an essential part of care for improving function and increasing community participation in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Combining animal-assisted intervention (AAI) with PT (AA-PT) offers a unique approach, potentially boosting motivation and participation in ambulatory children with CP. This case series piloted AA-PT integrating a rehabilitation dog for children with CP, to enhance walking and balance training.MethodsFour ambulatory children with CP (7-16 y.o.a, GMFCS I-II, 3 girls, 1 boy) participated in an 8-week individualized AA-PT intervention. Assessments at baseline (0 weeks), pre-intervention (8 weeks), post-intervention (16 weeks), and follow-up (24 weeks) included Kids Mini BESTest, timed up and go (TUG), dual task cost (DTC), and spatiotemporal parameters. The AA-PT included weekly 60-min sessions integrating a rehabilitation dog in walking and balance training. Visual analog scales (VAS) assessed perceived comfort, safety, enjoyment, and confidence while walking with and without the rehabilitation dog.ResultsIndividual-responder analysis showed improvements in Kids Mini BESTest scores, reduced DTC, and increased walking speed for all. Children reported higher enjoyment, confidence, safety, and comfort when walking with the rehabilitation dog.ConclusionAA-PT integrating a rehabilitation dog may enhance balance, dual-task cost, walking speed, and confidence in ambulatory children with CP.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.