Effects of balance Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy in elderly with Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo: a randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: To evaluate short-term effects of balance Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy (VRT) on balance, dizziness symptoms and quality of life of the elderly with chronic Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV). Method: In this randomized, single-blind and controlled trial, older adults with chronic BPPV were randomized into two groups, the experimental group (n = 7, age: 69 (65-78) years) and the control group (n = 7, age: 73 (65-76) years). Patients in the experimental group underwent balance VRT (50 min per session, two times a week) and Canalith Repositioning Maneuver (CRM) as required, for 13 weeks. The control group was treated using only CRM as required. Standing and dynamic balance, dizziness symptoms and quality of life were measured at the baseline, and at one, five, nine and thirteen weeks. Results: There were no between-group differences in dizziness, quality of life and standing balance over the 13 weeks. Significant differences were observed in dynamic balance measures between groups (p < 0.05 for most tests) through assessments. In intragroup analysis, both groups showed improvements in all measurements except no improvement was found in majority of the dynamic balance tests in the control group. Conclusions: The patients who received additional balance VRT demonstrated better results in dynamic balance than those who received only CRM.