This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Cohen, H. S Articles by Kimball, K. T Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cohen, H. S Articles by Kimball, K. T Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Changes in a repetitive head movement task after vestibular rehabilitation

Bobby R. Alford Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Communicative Sciences, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA

Kay T Kimball

Design and Analysis Unit, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA

Objective: Many papers describe vestibular rehabilitation programmes to reduce vertigo and disequilibrium caused by peripheral vestibular disorders, but few studies have assessed performance on purposeful activities. This study determined if performance on a purposeful activity improves after vestibular rehabilitation exercises, and if the speed of treatment exercises influences performance.Setting: Medical school practice; tertiary care facility.Subjects: Fifty-three patients with chronic vertigo caused by peripheral vestibular weakness.Interventions: Subjects performed vestibular rehabilitation head movement exercises to habituate vertigo, in either slow or rapid movement groups. Main measures: Time to perform a repetitive head movement task and intensity of vertigo elicited by that task, questionnaires about independence in activities of daily living and reported usual intensity of vertigo.Results: Both groups significantly decreased the time to perform the task and the intensity of elicited vertigo. Results were related to improved independence in activities of daily living and to decreased vertigo. Conclusion: Vertigo decreases and speed of head movement improved after a programme of vestibular rehabilitation, regardless of speed of treatment exercises. A simple purposeful activity can be useful to evaluate improvements after vestibular rehabilitation.

Clinical Rehabilitation, Vol. 18, No. 2, 125-131 (2004)
DOI: 10.1191/0269215504cr707oa


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?