Animal assisted therapy is helpful to the recovery of spinal cord injury

October 26, 2019 / BIOON / -- in the United States, there are about 17000 new cases of spinal cord injury (SCI) every year Recovery from spinal cord injury may bring great mental, emotional and physical losses to patients, but animal assisted therapy (AAT) may play an indispensable role in alleviating some challenges faced by patients Researchers at the University of Alabama (UAB) in Birmingham, in collaboration with hand in paw, Alabama's leading provider of animal assisted therapy, evaluated the effectiveness of AAT dogs as a rehabilitation aid after SCI Photo source: University of Alabama at Birmingham "the average length of stay of patients with traumatic spinal cord injury is more than 35 days, which requires both emotional and physical needs of patients," said Dr David schwebel, vice president of research, UAB School of art and science "When patients recover from injuries and face the reality of lifelong disability, they often experience great pain Because of this, SCI patients are at high risk of psychological stress, including depression and anxiety "Because of the risk of psychological stress, rehabilitation is at the heart of the SCI patient care management plan and can help physical and mental health However, little is known about how to help patients cope with the physiological and psychological effects of this therapy on patients with traumatic spinal cord injury This study examined the effects of AAT on mood, appearance, pain and stress in patients with traumatic SCI undergoing occupational therapy during rehabilitation The researchers treated 31 patients with spinal cord injury for four courses of occupational therapy Before and after the experiment, they evaluated their positive and negative emotions, completed a survey of pain, and collected cortisol levels in saliva to measure physiological stress levels During these four rehabilitation sessions, AAT dogs interacted with a number of patients who were treated through trained occupational therapists Patients were asked to interact with dogs to improve their mobility and range of activities, including reaching, stroking or walking with dogs to enhance core strength Taking food out of the bag, feeding the dog, pouring water into the bottle, putting clips on the dog's hair, and hanging a necklace around the dog's neck all encourage good motor skills The study found that the pressure level of patients in AAT group decreased, and after treatment, the pain and unhappiness of the patients involved also decreased These results suggest that AAT may have a positive effect on pain perception during occupational therapy rehabilitation AAT has the best effect on the first treatment, especially in improving negative emotions or reducing enthusiasm Schwebel hopes that future research will explore the possibility that an AAT treatment can bring significant benefits to patients He said the finding would mean that AAT resources could be used more widely for more patients than limited resources for fewer meetings of patients "We found that the presence of a treatment dog in the rehabilitation process can help a little," schwebel said Our impact is very small, but even if it is very small, it is meaningful and valuable for people who have life-changing spinal cord injury Dogs comfort us when we're down, comfort us when we're in pain, and our research shows that dogs help us even after injuries that change our lives Although more research is needed, we encourage hand in paw and similar institutions to continue their valuable work as it seems to provide health benefits for patients "Reference: Animal Assisted Therapy AIDS in spiral core intervention recovery