The Effects of Vestibular Rehabilitation on Poststroke Fatigue: A Randomized Controlled Trial Study

A major complication caused by stroke is poststroke fatigue (PSF), and by causing limitations in doing activities of daily living (ADL), it can lower the quality of life.

The present study is an attempt to examine the effects of vestibular rehabilitation on BADL (Basic Activities of Daily Living), fatigue, depression, and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) in patients with stroke.

Patients with a history of stroke took part voluntarily in a single-blind clinical trial. The participants were allocated to control and experimental groups randomly. The experimental group attended 24 sessions of vestibular rehabilitation protocol, while the control group received the standard rehabilitation (including three sessions per week each for around 60 min). To measure fatigue, the Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS) and the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS) were used. Depression, BADL, and IADL were measured using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Barthel Index (BI), and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, respectively. All changes were measured from the baseline after the intervention.

Significant improvement was found in the experimental group compared to the control group (p < 0.05) in FIS (physical, cognition, and social subscales), FAS, BDI-II, BADL, and IADL. Moreover, the results showed small to medium and large effect sizes for the physical subscale of FIS and FAS scores based on Cohen's d, respectively; however, no significant difference was found in terms of cognition and social subscales of FIS, BDI-II, BADL, and IADL scores.

It is possible to improve fatigue, depression, and independence in BADL and IADL using vestibular rehabilitation. Thus, it is an effective intervention in case of stroke, which is also well tolerated.