Diseñar un mecanismo de rehabilitación de terapia asistida con caballos (TAC) para personas con capacidades especiales, destinada para la Fundación Protección y Descanso

Abstract

Nowadays, equine therapy has become one of the fundamental pillars in lower extremity motor recovery therapy, whether temporary or permanent injuries that can expand to disabilities such as intellectual disabilities. However, it is unlikely to deduce the horse's behavior ends up helping in therapy because of how skittish these animals are. Therefore, this curricular integration work aimed to look for a mechanical alternative that replaces direct contact with the horse and reduces the number of therapists involved. The methodology implemented geometric calculations to synthesize a 4-bar mechanism whose movement imprints on its coupler a ride similar to that of the equine to subsequently analyze and validate its speeds and accelerations through a kinematic analysis, after this, and knowing the average fundamental characteristics. Considering people with special abilities of “Fundación Protecccion y Descanso” who will use the rehabilitation mechanism, dynamic analysis was carried out to find the mechanism's forces and general movement efforts to select mechanical components. Using this methodology, it was possible to condition the movement of a real horse into a mechanical horse, with these movements, as well as their speeds and accelerations, being verified between various CAD and CAE software and validating them with in situ analysis, finally comparing their coupler curves, as well as the required high and low positions. It is concluded that the experience generated by the mechanical equine meets the exact expectations that a natural equine will cause, producing great satisfaction for rehabilitating people with special abilities of “Fundación Protecccion y Descanso”. It is proposed to increase virtual reality to improve the scope of complacency.