Development and pilot of equine facilitated physical therapy outcome measure tool for chronic low back pain patients.
Authors: S. Mattila-Rautiainen, M. Venojärvi, A. Sobolev, H. Tikkanen, A. Keski-Valkama
Journal: Journal of bodywork and movement therapies
Summary
Equine facilitated physical therapy (EFPT) shows promise as a treatment for chronic low back pain, yet the field has lacked standardised outcome measurement tools—a significant gap that hampers both clinical documentation and evidence-building within the equestrian rehabilitation sector. Researchers developed an online assessment instrument comprising 48 movement-related functions derived from the International Classification of Functioning, then tested its reliability by having 2–6 expert raters independently score video recordings of 22 patients performing functional tasks (maintaining sitting position and walking) during a 12-week EFPT intervention. The tool demonstrated strong inter-rater agreement (α = 0.87 overall, reaching α = 1.00 when analysed per patient) and acceptable intra-rater repeatability (α = 0.87 overall, α = 0.80 per patient), with similarly reliable performance when tested on healthy adults. This standardised approach enables clinicians to objectively document postural changes and track treatment progress in real time, whilst the structured measurement framework permits systematic data collection across EFPT programmes—essential groundwork for rigorous validation studies that could establish equine-assisted therapy's evidence base within mainstream rehabilitation practice. For practitioners, the tool offers a practical mechanism to quantify functional improvements and inform home exercise prescription, moving EFPT toward the same quality of outcome documentation expected in conventional physiotherapy.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •An objective, standardized measurement tool is now available for documenting postural and functional improvements in low back pain patients during equine therapy, improving the evidence base for this unconventional treatment modality
- •Physical therapists can use this tool to quantify treatment progress, identify which patients are responding to equine facilitated therapy, and design targeted home exercise programs based on documented deficits
- •Consistent documentation with this validated tool will enable outcome collection across multiple EFPT programs and build the clinical evidence needed to support wider adoption and potential insurance/funding recognition
Key Findings
- •An online evaluation tool assessing 48 movement-related functions was successfully developed for measuring outcomes in equine facilitated physical therapy for low back pain patients
- •Inter-rater reliability reached good agreement (α = 0.87) for individual items and excellent agreement (α = 1.00) when calculated per patient
- •Intra-rater reliability demonstrated good consistency (α = 0.87 for items, α = 0.80 per patient) across repeated assessments
- •The tool successfully detected postural changes in low back pain patients following a 12-week equine facilitated physical therapy intervention