Single case study Osteopathy

This osteopathic study examines the effectiveness of osteopathy in a child with cerebral paresis. The test person, Matthias, has suffered from tetraplegia since birth. Both his legs and his left arm are affected. Matthias has received physiotherapy from birth onwards, switching later to hippotherapy. This is in effect a physiotherapeutic measure, whereby the three-dimensional movement of the horse is transferred to the rider. I have chosen a withdrawal design (A-B-A) to permit Matthias to continue with hippotherapy and at the same time to allow me to examine the efficiency of osteopathy during the ingoing, additional hippotherapy. Each phase lasts for five weeks, the complete study encompassed 15 weeks.