Table 3.
Type of study and participants’ baseline characteristics of the selected articles.
| Study | Design | Group | Sample Size (% of Females) | Age (SD) | Pathology | Pain Duration | BMI/Weight | Disability Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real horse studies | ||||||||
| White-Lewis et al. (2019) | RCT | Inactive control group | n = 10 (100%) | 65.80 (7.42) | Arthritis | NR | NR | NR |
| Equine-assisted therapy group | n = 10 (60%) | 61.90 (6.05) | NR | NR | NR | |||
| Vermöhlen et al. (2018) | RCT | Inactive control group | n = 37 (73%) | 51 (47–56) * | Multiple sclerosis | 17.6 (11–27) years * | 70.6 (9.9) kg | EDSS < 5: 303% EDSS ≥ 5: 70% |
| EAT group | n = 30 (90%) | 50 (45–53) * | 16.5 (11–20) years * | 67 (10.3) kg | EDSS < 5: 33% EDSS ≥ 5: 67% |
|||
| Horse riding simulator studies | ||||||||
| Kim et al. (2020) | RCT | Active control group | n = 24 (57.7%) | 28.76 (9.05) | Low back pain | 101.55 (97.12) months | 23.50 (5.58) kg/m2 | KODI: 21.77 (7.11) KRMD: 5.11 (2.74) |
| Simulator group | n = 24 (31.8%) | 26 (3.82) | 58.22 (37.37) months | 23.96 (5.76) kg/m2 | KODI: 20.24 (7.69) KRMD: 5.11 (2.74) |
|||
| Rahbar et al. (2018) | RCT | Inactive control group | n= 40 (27.5%) | 46.22 (7.83) | Low back pain | 7.22 (1.79) months | 26.89 (0.50) kg/m2 | KRMD: 15.32 (0.24) |
| Simulator group | n = 40 (32.5%) | 46.25 (7.97) | 7.05 (1.74) months | 26.96 (0.55) kg/m2 | KRMD: 15.50 (0.26) | |||
| Chen et al. (2016) | RCT | Active control group | n = 9 | 19–30 | Nonspecific chronic low back pain | <3 months | NR | KODI: 10.55 (4.06) |
| Simulator group | n = 10 | NR | KODI: 9.60 (3.53) | |||||
| Yoo et al. (2014) | RCT | Inactive control group | n = 23 (0%) | 20.70 (1.45) | Chronic low back pain | 8.35 (2.62) months | Weight 65.80 (7.38) kg. | |
| Simulator group | n = 24 (0%) | 20.44 (1.33) | 9.41 (3.64) months | Weight 64.69 (9.96) kg. | NR | |||
| Oh et al. (2014) | RCT | Inactive control group | n = 9 (0%) | 20.70 (0.37) | Chronic low back pain | 6.38 (2.14) months | Weight 65.80 (2.40) kg. | |
| Simulator group 1 | n = 10 (0%) | 20.56 (0.69) | 6.21 (2.11) months | Weight 69.92 (4.87) kg. | NR | |||
| Simulator group 2 | n = 9 (0%) | 20.33 (0.52) | 7.57 (1.6) months | Weight 60.92 (2.56) kg. | ||||
| Simulator group 3 | n = 9 (0%) | 20.44 (0.27) | 6.75 (2.01) months | Weight 64.41 (3.36) kg. | ||||
KODI: Korean Oswestry disability index; KMD: Korean Roland Morris disability EDSS: Expanded Disability Status Scale; NR: not reported; * Median and interquartile range.