Vibrotactile Feedback During Vestibular Therapy

The Effects of Vibrotactile Feedback During Vestibular Rehabilitation

This study evaluates the use of vibrotactile feedback to traditional vestibular treatment protocols. Half the patients will have vibrotactile feedback added to their treatment protocols while the other half will undergo traditional vestibular treatment without vibrotactile feedback.

Vestibular and balance rehabilitation is an effective way to improve balance for individuals with balance impairments by using the strategies of adaptation, habituation, or substitution. Typical vestibular treatment is usually 3 sessions per week for 6 weeks. For people with uncompensated unilateral vestibular hypofunction or bilateral vestibular loss, recovery/adaptation is often incomplete and chronic balance impairments result.

Vibrotactile feedback (VTF) is a strategy of substitution, or augmentation, to replace disrupted or absent vestibular function. The sensory information replaces disrupted or absent vestibular function to give persons additional signals about their body position in space. Real-time VTF applied to the trunk has been shown to decrease postural sway but the long-term benefits of training with VTF on balance and function have not been examined.

Inclusion Criteria:

• unilateral peripheral vestibular hypofunction
• bilateral peripheral vestibular hypofunction

Exclusion Criteria:

• confounding neurologic or neuromuscular disorders
• pregnancy
• inability to stand for 3 minutes
• recent lower extremity fracture/severe sprain within the last 6 months
• previous lower extremity joint replacement
• incapacitating back or lower extremity pain
• body too large for equipment