1. Vestibular rehabilitation training in patients with subacute stroke: A preliminary randomized controlled trial.
- Author
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Tramontano, Marco, Iosa, Marco, Morone, Giovanni, Bergamini, Elena, Belluscio, Valeria, and Vannozzi, Giuseppe
- Subjects
TORSO physiology ,STROKE diagnosis ,CONVALESCENCE ,DIAGNOSIS ,POSTURAL balance ,EXERCISE ,GAIT in humans ,HEALTH promotion ,VESTIBULAR apparatus diseases ,RANDOMIZED controlled trials ,ACUTE diseases ,STROKE patients - Abstract
BACKGROUND: Vestibular rehabilitation (VR) consists in a customized exercise program patient-centred that includes a combination of different exercise components with the aim to promote gaze stability, improve balance and gait, and facilitate somatosensory integration. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of customized vestibular rehabilitation training on gait stability of patients with subacute stroke. METHODS: Twenty-five inpatients (12 M, age: 64.1±12.1 years) with diagnosis of subacute stroke were enrolled and randomized in two groups. All patients were evaluated before and after 4 weeks of training sessions. An instrumented 10-Meter Walk Test together with traditional clinical scales were used to assess VR effects. To investigate if any fall event occurred after patients’ dismissal, they were followed-up at three and twelve months after dismissal. RESULTS: Higher values of walking speed and stride length were observed in the VR group. Conversely, no significant difference was found in terms of trunk stability. The results of between-group comparison highlight significant differences between the two groups for different clinical scale scores. CONCLUSION: VR could be included into a rehabilitation program for patients with stroke for improving their gait and dynamic balance acting on their vestibular system as facilitator of recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
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