Background: Vestibular rehabilitation (VR) consists in a customized exercise program patient-centred that includes a combination of different exercise components with the aim to promote gaze stability, improve balance and gait, and facilitate somatosensory integration.
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of customized vestibular rehabilitation training on gait stability of patients with subacute stroke.
Methods: Twenty-five inpatients (12 M, age: 64.1±12.1 years) with diagnosis of subacute stroke were enrolled and randomized in two groups. All patients were evaluated before and after 4 weeks of training sessions. An instrumented 10-Meter Walk Test together with traditional clinical scales were used to assess VR effects. To investigate if any fall event occurred after patients' dismissal, they were followed-up at three and twelve months after dismissal.
Results: Higher values of walking speed and stride length were observed in the VR group. Conversely, no significant difference was found in terms of trunk stability. The results of between-group comparison highlight significant differences between the two groups for different clinical scale scores.
Conclusion: VR could be included into a rehabilitation program for patients with stroke for improving their gait and dynamic balance acting on their vestibular system as facilitator of recovery.
Keywords: Vestibular rehabilitation; dynamic balance and gait; instrumented assessment; stroke.