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Globally, there are nearly three million people living with multiple sclerosis (PLW-MS). Many PLW-MS experience vertigo and have signs of vestibular dysfunction, e.g., low vestibulo–ocular reflex (VOR) gains or the presence of compensatory saccades (CSs), on video head impulse testing (vHIT). We examined whether the vestibular function and compensatory oculomotor behaviors in PLW-MS differed based on the level of MS-related disability. The VOR gain, CS frequency and latency, and gaze position error (GPE) were calculated from the individual traces obtained during six-canal vHIT for 37 PLW-MS (mean age 53.4 ± 12.4 years-old, 28 females) with vertigo and/or an imbalance. The subjects were grouped by their Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores: PLW-min-MS (EDSS = 1.0–2.5, n = 8), PLW-mild-MS (EDSS = 3.0–4.5, n = 23), and PLW-moderate-MS (EDSS = 5.0–6.0, n = 6). The between-group differences were assessed with Kruskal–Wallis tests. The VOR gains for most of the canals were higher for PLW-min-MS compared to PLW-mild- and mod-MS, respectively. CS occurred less often in PLW-min-MS versus PLW-mild- and mod-MS, respectively. No clear trend in CS latency was found. The GPE was often lower for PLW-min-MS compared to PLW-mild- and mod-MS, respectively. Thus, our data demonstrate that worse VOR and compensatory oculomotor functions are associated with a greater MS-related disability. PLW-MS may benefit from personalized vestibular physical therapy.

Alterations in head and trunk kinematics during activities of daily living can be difficult to recognize and quantify with visual observation. Incorporating wearable sensors allows for accurate and measurable assessment of movement. The aim of this study was to determine the ability of wearable sensors and data processing algorithms to discern motion restrictions during activities of daily living. Accelerometer data was collected with wearable sensors from 10 healthy adults (age 39.5 ± 12.47) as they performed daily living simulated tasks: coin pick up (pitch plane task), don/doff jacket (yaw plane task), self-paced community ambulation task [CAT] (pitch and yaw plane task) without and with a rigid cervical collar. Paired t-tests were used to discern differences between non-restricted (no collared) performance and restricted (collared) performance of tasks. Significant differences in head rotational velocity (jacket p = 0.03, CAT-pitch p < 0.001, CAT-yaw p < 0.001), head rotational amplitude (coin p = 0.03, CAT-pitch p < 0.001, CAT-yaw p < 0.001), trunk rotational amplitude (jacket p = 0.01, CAT-yaw p = 0.005), and head–trunk coupling (jacket p = 0.007, CAT-yaw p = 0.003) were captured by wearable sensors between the two conditions. Alterations in turning movement were detected at the head and trunk during daily living tasks. These results support the ecological validity of using wearable sensors to quantify movement alterations during real-world scenarios.