Dog-assisted physiotherapy in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a randomized controlled pilot study.

People living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neuromuscular disease, often face both physical decline and psychological distress, and clinicians have been looking for rehabilitation approaches that might address both together. This pilot trial compared a standard hospital rehabilitation program with a version where some sessions involved a therapy dog alongside the physiotherapist, in sixty hospitalized patients over two weeks. Both groups improved on motor tests, but the group receiving dog-assisted sessions showed statistically significant improvements on some physical performance subscales and on anxiety and depression scores that the standard-care group did not show, and their post-treatment results were generally better across most measures. The idea that a therapy dog could enhance a physiotherapy session for a serious neuromuscular condition is a novel and interesting one, but this was a small pilot study with a short two-week timeframe, so the findings should be seen as early and exploratory rather than confirmation that dog-assisted therapy meaningfully changes outcomes in ALS care.

If you or someone you know is living with ALS, a disease that affects both movement and mood, you may wonder whether anything beyond standard physiotherapy could help. This small study looked at exactly that, comparing a two-week hospital rehabilitation program with a version where a therapy dog took part in some sessions, in sixty patients. Both groups saw improvements in physical tests during their stay.

But patients in the dog-assisted group showed additional improvements in some physical measures and in anxiety and depression scores that the standard care group did not show, and their overall results tended to be somewhat better. This is encouraging as an early signal, but it comes from just one small pilot study over a short two-week period, so it cannot tell us whether these benefits would last or apply more broadly. It's a first step suggesting that dog-assisted therapy might be a feasible addition to rehabilitation, not proof that it changes long-term outcomes for people with ALS.

This is a summary of research, not medical advice. Talk to your own healthcare provider about anything affecting your care.

This randomized controlled pilot study (n=60 hospitalized ALS patients) tested dog-assisted therapy as a substitute for morning physiotherapy sessions three days a week over a two-week inpatient program, compared with standard rehabilitation alone. As a pilot design, its primary contribution is demonstrating feasibility of integrating animal-assisted therapy into an ALS rehabilitation pathway, rather than establishing definitive efficacy. Both groups improved on core motor outcomes (Timed Up and Go, Short Physical Performance Battery, Six Minute Walk Test, Ten Meter Walk Test), indicating that dog-assisted sessions were at least comparable to standard care.

Notably, Short Physical Performance Battery subscales and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale scores improved significantly only in the AAT group (P from <0.0001 to 0.0004), and post-treatment values favored the AAT group across most measures (P from <0.0001 to 0.01). These exploratory results should be interpreted cautiously given the short two-week intervention window, single-center hospitalized population, and pilot sample size, which limit generalizability and statistical power. No adverse events were reported in the abstract.

Larger, longer-term trials would be needed to confirm whether these preliminary motor and psychological benefits translate into durable, clinically meaningful gains.