Bruininks Osteretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP) Article Summary

Posted on: February 27, 2021 | By: mbraswell3 | Filed under: Bruininks Osteretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP)

The purpose of the article by Rigby et al. is to quantify changes in motor proficiency after 8 weeks of equine assisted activities (EEA) combined with brain building activities. EEA is also known as hippotherapy, and it involves experiencing rhythmic movements while riding a horse that force the rider to adjust to these movements and activate muscles in the lower torso and pelvis. The movements that occur at the rider’s pelvis resemble those essential for ambulation and has great evidence of improving gross motor function in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (ND). Brain building activities involve tasks that improve the brain’s ability to process and react to information coming in from primary sensory pathways, including auditory, visual, and vestibular pathways. Brain building activities have been shown to improve the brain’s ability to integrate sensory information accurately with less effort leading to improvements in attention, learning, and function in children with ND. Combining EEA and brain building activities in the same treatment plan for children with ND has not been previously studied. The authors hypothesize that combining these two treatment techniques may lead to greater improvements in motor proficiency.
25 children and adolescents, ages 5-16 years old, diagnosed with any neurodevelopmental disorder were included in this study. The study’s protocol started with 8 weeks of no activity serving as the control period. This followed 8 weeks of EAA only for 1x/week. After this came an 8 week washout period consisting of no therapeutic activities replicating the control period. After the washout period, EAA and brain building activities were performed for 1x/week for 8 weeks. The outcome measure used to measure motor skill after each 8 week stage was the short form of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency- Version 2, or the BOT-2. Results consisted of higher overall scores after the combined EEA and brain building group. Notable improvements were seen specifically in strength, manual dexterity, and upper limb coordination subsets. There are also anecdotal reports from caregivers that balance improved post EEA and brain building activities.
There are a few glaring weaknesses in this study. There is no concurrent control group to be used as a comparison, and the washout period unlikely returned each participant completely back to baseline. There are also varying diagnoses in this study with varying degrees of severity. It is also difficult to determine if the changes in motor skills were a direct result of the interventions or if it was due to age-related developmental changes. The take-home message of this article is that the efficacy of combining equine therapy with brain building activities may augment motor skill development in the pediatric population with ND.

 

2 responses to “Bruininks Osteretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP) Article Summary”

  1. natwood says:

    I would agree that the weaknesses of the study are significant, especially with the wide variability of diagnoses and severities. Although I do empathize that it would have been challenging to control for the numerous variables since presentations are diverse and changing in this population. With that being said, it is still interesting and helpful to see that the combination of these two interventions may enhance motor skill development in the pediatric population with neurodevelopmental disorders. I am curious what specific hippotherapy interventions were utilized and wonder how that may have impacted results. I am passionate about hippotherapy, yet I have not considered how the combination of hippotherapy and other interventions such as brain-building activities may influence patient progress towards reaching meaningful goals. I wonder if any other studies have explored hippotherapy in conjunction with different types of interventions other than brain-building activities.

  2. shoskinson says:

    Hello Matt,
    I agree that there needed to be a control group and I also believe that the sample size was quite limited. During the time period of the 8 weeks of EAA and brain building activities were they also receiving supplemental physical therapy? If not it is pretty amazing the improvements found post EEA and the 8 week washout period considering the fact that they only participated in the activity 1x a week.

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