Effect of Vestibular Rehabilitation on Dizziness and Balance Disorders in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients: A Systymatic Review

NAWAL A. ABU SHADY, Ph.D.*; NOUR EL HODA G. RADWAN, M.Sc.*, AKRAM A. SAYED, Ph.D.**

doi:10.21608/mjcu.2023.318545

Effect of Vestibular Rehabilitation on Dizziness and Balance Disorders in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients: A Systymatic Review

Document Type : Original Article

Author

AKRAM A. SAYED, Ph.D.** NAWAL A. ABU SHADY, Ph.D.*; NOUR EL HODA G. RADWAN, M.Sc.*

The Departments of Neurology* and Cardiovascular/Respiratory Disorder and Geriatrics**, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University

10.21608/mjcu.2023.318545

Abstract

Abstract Background: A traumatic brain injury is an alteration in brain function, or other evidence of brain pathology, caused by an external force. It is a common cause of long term disability in the areas of physical, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functioning in young adults. Aim of Study: To summarize the best evidence of the effect of vestibular rehabilitation for dizziness and balance disorders in traumatic brain injury patients. Subjects and Methods: By using electronic database: Pubmed, Cochrane library and google scholar. Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) were only included in this review and the others were excluded according to eligibility criteria. Results: Five RCTs were only included in this review with 230 patients met the inclusion criteria, the duration of treatment ranged from twice to four times aweek for four to eight weeks. The results showed level (1a) evidence for the effectiveness of vestibular rehabilitation therapy in improving dizziness and balance disorders in traumatic brain injury patients. All included studies showed positive effects in the measured outcomes, Meta-analyses statistics used in this review in three studies that measured dizziness, and descriptive analysis in three studies that measured balance. Vestibular rehabilitation has no significant effect in dizziness and balance disorders in traumatic brain injury patients. Conclusion: The current study showed that, vestibular rehabilitation is a safe and beneficial intervention, speeding up recovery but has no superior effect on dizziness and balance disorders in traumatic brain injury patients compared to other conventional rehabilitation interventions. This evidence is based on a limited number of RCTs and more high-quality RCTs are needed to support this evidence.

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