Vestibular rehabilitation training in patients with subacute stroke: A preliminary randomized controlled trial

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.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of customized vestibular rehabilitation training on gait stability of patients with subacute stroke.

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.

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.

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.