Efficacy of vestibular rehabilitation

The purpose of this study was to determine significant changes in the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) scores in patients before and within 1 year after a vestibular rehabilitation program. Efficacy of a vestibular rehabilitation program was tested retrospectively in 37 patients by comparison of pretreatment and posttreatment DHI scores. A significant improvement in test scores was found, indicated by the Sign test at the 0.05 level after vestibular rehabilitation. This difference is evident in the total score and in the functional and physical subscore component. Prerehabilitation and postrehabilitation differences among diagnostic categories were analyzed by using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Patients with peripheral lesions demonstrated greater improvement in the emotional component of the DHI as compared with patients with central or mixed lesions. The Wilcoxon two-sample test assessed the influence of compliance with a home exercise program after discharge from a vestibular physical therapy program. There was no significant difference in improvement between patients who performed home exercises for at least a month after discharge and those who did not.