BOCA RATON, FLA. – Vestibular rehabilitation and balance retraining reduced vertigo and falls in a study of 100 community-dwelling elderly patients with disequilibrium of aging.
The intervention also improved gait and overall quality of life in the study conducted at the Atlanta Ear Clinic between July 2004 and March 2005. The study included 57 women, and the mean age was 79 years.
“We see a lot of elderly people in our population, and vertigo is a common cause of falls,” Gaye W. Cronin, an occupational therapist at the clinic, said during a poster session at the annual meeting of the American Head and Neck Society.
At baseline, participants had a medical examination, an audiogram, and an assessment of fall risk, balance, gait, positional vertigo, and oculomotor function. The intervention consisted of balance and vestibular rehabilitation, oculomotor exercises, and repositioning or redistribution exercises for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).
The intervention “would be pretty easy to follow by other physicians,” Ms. Cronin told this newspaper.
Vestibular rehabilitation and balance retraining involve movement and exercise intended to decrease or eliminate dizziness or vertigo, improve balance function and safety, improve visual motor control, increase activity levels, and reduce falls or risk of falls. The program is indicated for people with vertigo or imbalance conditions that do not spontaneously resolve within 3–4 weeks, she said.
Ms. Cronin and her associate, Ronald Leif Steenerson, M.D., followed the patients in person or via telephone for 6 months. There was an 80% reduction in the number of falls. “We saw a significant reduction in falls, from 56 falls before the intervention to 11 falls afterward,” she said.
The intervention normalized BPPV for 82 of the initial 91 patients (90%) who presented with the condition. Gait was normalized for 55% of the patients. A total of 71% had normalized balance tests, and 54% no longer needed a device to assist with mobility.
The researchers also measured quality of life on a 0 to 10 scale. Scores improved from an average 3.5 at baseline to 7 after the intervention.
More information on vestibular rehabilitation and balance retraining is available at www.atlantaearclinic.com