Animal therapy began to develop as a separate branch of medicine quite recently. With its help, diseases are cured that expensive medicines cannot cope with, as well as diseases that, with a medical approach, are treated painfully and for a long time.
Ancient man lived in constant interaction with nature and animals. With the advent of medicine and the present time, recommendations for the treatment of many diseases with animal therapy have remained. So, with neuroses, in addition to walking barefoot and dousing with cold water, horseback riding was recommended. In addition to horses, other animals were used as animal therapy - dogs, cats, songbirds.
Benefits of Animal Therapy with Horses
In diseases of the musculoskeletal system, horseback riding is recommended. This is because 100-110 impulses per minute are transmitted to the rider from a galloping horse. At the same time, all muscle groups work, coordination of movements and fine motor skills develop.
Benefits of using Animal Therapy with horses:
- Horseback riding (Hippotherapy) is useful for atherosclerosis, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and autism.
- Animal therapy using regular horseback riding for several months has been proven to reduce autism symptoms in children.
- In England, hippotherapy is effectively used in psychiatry, in the treatment of drug addiction and alcoholism. In addition, horseback riding helps with rehabilitation after polio.
Application of Animal Therapy with Fish
A person who is prone to constant depression and stressful situations should start an aquarium.
The measured swimming of fish in an aquarium allows you to distract a person from everyday fuss and worries, to give emotional relaxation. Experts say that the aquarium helps in the treatment of hypertension, depression, neurosis, angina pectoris.
The tactics of animal therapy is simple - watching the fish in the aquarium from 15 minutes to 2 hours a day. For children, daily monitoring of the aquarium for 7-18 days is recommended, for an adult for 15-25 days. Observations show that with the advent of an aquarium in the house, the owners spend more time at home with their families, which is very important for modern society.
The role of cats in animal therapy
Treatment by cats (feline therapy) has been known to many since childhood, when a cat lies down on a sore spot, stamps its feet and licks the damaged surface of the skin. In England, "medical cats" are sold in pharmacies, and for good reason, because cats have a huge healing potential. Doctors who worked in specialized clinics in England and the United States found that cats help people who have problems with the cardiovascular system, mental illness and brain damage. Communication with cats can help cure alcoholism and drug addiction. At the same time, no requirements are imposed on the cat - it just needs to be sociable and affectionate.
Even the purring of cats is useful for humans. The Berlin Institute found that people who have cats live an average of 10 years more. According to felinologists, animal therapy with the help of cats can stabilize blood pressure, treat atherosclerosis, arrhythmia, osteochondrosis and chronic bronchitis.
What pathologies are treated with dolphin animal therapy?
It is known that contact with a dolphin has a positive effect on the human body. Communication with dolphins contributes to the treatment of memory, hearing, speech disorders, and the treatment of autism. Animal therapy with the help of dolphins also has a positive effect on well-being in Down syndrome.
For patients who have suffered severe psychological trauma, communication with dolphins helps in rehabilitation. The dolphins emit an ultrasound that triggers the healing mechanism.
There are contraindications to animal therapy with the help of dolphins - ultrasound is not recommended for patients with epilepsy, with acute infectious diseases and patients with oncology. Thus, animal therapy occupies a significant place in medicine.
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