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Short-term effectiveness of vestibular rehabilitation in elderly patients with postural instability: a randomized clinical trial

  • Otology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Balance becomes more precarious with age, and even without pathological disorders, the physiological decline in balance that occurs with age is a factor that also favors falls. So the aim of the present study is to assess the short-term effectiveness of three different methods of vestibular rehabilitation, compared to a control group, in improving balance in elderly patients with postural instability. 139 elderly patients with high risk of falls were included and randomized to one of the following study arms: computer dynamic posturography (CDP) training, optokinetic stimulus, exercises at home, or control group. Patients were assessed with objective and subjective outcome measures. The individuals that trained using CDP improved significantly more than the control group on the average balance score (p < 0.001) and reducing the number of falls in the sensorial organization test (p < 0.001). In addition, the analysis showed a statistically significant effect in the limits of stability only with the CDP training in comparison with the control group (p < 0.001). In our present study, supervised and customized exercises with CDP were more effective than the control group in the posturographic short-term assessment. An increased age did not affect the potential for improvement after training. So we conclude that elderly patients with high risk of falling should begin vestibular rehabilitation as soon as possible in order to avoid the potential harm of falls, mainly injuries and psychological consequences due to fear of falling again.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the project PI11/01328, integrated into the State Plan for R + D + I 2008–2011 and funded by the ISCIII—Subdirección General de Evaluación y Fomento de la Investigación and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo regional (FEDER): “Reduction of falls in the elderly by improving balance through vestibular rehabilitation.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology, University Hospital Lucus Augusti, Calle Dr. Ulises Romero, 1, 27003, Lugo, Spain

    Marcos Rossi-Izquierdo

  2. Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Hospital Clínico Universitario. Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago (IDIS), Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Pilar Gayoso-Diz

  3. Department of Otolaryngology, Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Sofía Santos-Pérez, María Del-Río-Valeiras, Ana Faraldo-García, Isabel Vaamonde-Sánchez-Andrade, Antonio Lirola-Delgado & Andrés Soto-Varela

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  1. Marcos Rossi-Izquierdo
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  2. Pilar Gayoso-Diz
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  3. Sofía Santos-Pérez
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  4. María Del-Río-Valeiras
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  5. Ana Faraldo-García
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  6. Isabel Vaamonde-Sánchez-Andrade
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  7. Antonio Lirola-Delgado
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  8. Andrés Soto-Varela
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcos Rossi-Izquierdo.

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The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

The study was performed according to the protocol approved by the Independent Ethics Committee of Galicia (Protocol 2010/139).

Informed consent

Signed informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Additional information

Presented at the 29th Bárány Society meeting, at Seoul (South Korea), June 2016 as an oral presentation.

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Rossi-Izquierdo, M., Gayoso-Diz, P., Santos-Pérez, S. et al. Short-term effectiveness of vestibular rehabilitation in elderly patients with postural instability: a randomized clinical trial. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 274, 2395–2403 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-017-4472-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-017-4472-4

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