Parents' opinions

We have been attending hipotherapy for 6 years with our son and for 4 years with our daughter. But our journey to this method was rather lengthy.

Since he was one year old, our son had delayed movement development which got even worse over the time. Vojta's doctor considered his movement skills sufficient and she never sent us to a specialist examination. I worked very hard with Vojta and did my best to improve his movement skills. At the same time I tried to find expert care where we would find an explanation to Vojta's problems. When he was 4 years old, Vojta was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. The doctor informed us that it was quite possible that Vojta would never learn to ride a bicycle, swim, skate or ski. At that time our daughter was born. Due to the negative experience with my son I decided to make use the opportunity given by the orthopedic department of the Motol hospital and to have her motor development tested when she was 3 months old by physiotherapist Mgr. Nováková. We were told that Eliška should use the Vojta's method and the physiotherapist also took care of Vojta (it was his first specialist treatment). And so our daily exercise started.

One day I found a leaflet about hipotherapy at our physiotherapist's. Until then I had never heard about this method. After a consultation with Mgr. Nováková I decided to try hipotherapy. Vojta started riding regularly twice a week. After his first intensive stay he started jumping, after the second one he started walking down the stairs (he was 5 years old at that time). We attend intensive stays every year and each time there is a considerable improvement of motor skills which makes us happy and which also is a proof that our mutual work is not pointless.

Eliška started riding when she was 2 years old. She often suffered from bronchitis and she had trouble breathing. The goal of hipotherapy was to expand her chest through correct posture, to improve blood supply to the respiratory system and activate postural muscles in order to improve the breathing stereotype. Her state of health began to improve gradually.

Today Vojta is 10 years old – he is a great swimmer, he does downhill skiing, rides a bike, he is learning to skate. Eliška is 6 years old and she hasn't had trouble breathing for 2 years. For a long time I have not been able to find time to thank the whole Mirákl team. But today Eliška started riding a bike and that was the right impulse.

We would therefore like to thank to the whole Mirákl team for the great work that they do. They do everything with great professionalism, smiles on their faces, with kindness and human attitude. Special thanks go to Mgr. Kateřina Čapková who - in addition to hipotherapy - prepares physiotherapeutic exercises to the children that form an integral part of the effective and high-quality therapy.

We wish you all great success and a lot of joy coming from your work.

Jitka and Vlastimil Tesař

We have been going to hipotherapy with enthusiasm for about a year now. During this time, the posture of my children improved significantly. But for us, hipotherapy is much more than only motor system rehabilitation. In the first place, the horses are friends that our children always look forward to. The children are able to acquire the basics of care for animals and learn to respect them. Being able to ride a big animal improves their self-confidence. As a part of additional programs, it is also sometimes possible to attend canistherapy with dogs, which the children were very excited about. The entire hiporehabilitation team has a very sensitive and individual approach towards children. They know how to praise them and to encourage them. During therapy, they are very careful about the safety of the children. The time spent with horses has brought us a lot of pleasure.

I believe (based on my personal experience) that regular hipotherapy sessions under the supervision of an experienced physiotherapist can considerably stimulate psycho-motor development of a child. In this respect, the team of Mgr. Katka Čapková is the most competent, they approach children (and also their parents) with love and understanding. They offer not only hipotherapy to children, but also general stimulation using other rehabilitation methods (music therapy and canistherapy), but mostly very sensitive individual care that is rather rare to find in standard medical centers.

We have been attending hipotherapy for three years with our seven-year-old son and it is very beneficial to him. Both for back strengthening, sitting stabilizing and for his verticalization, coordination and peristalsis. We are very satisfied with the care provided by the physiotherapist and both trainers. Thanks to hipotherapy, Honzík has fallen in love with horses, dogs and omnipresent cats – it is always a pleasant afternoon for us that we look forward to very much.