Can virtual reality replace conventional vestibular rehabilitation tools in multisensory balance exercises for vestibular disorders? A non-inferiority study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Vestibular rehabilitation uses multisensory balance exercises to optimize the integration and weighting of sensory inputs, including visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive signals. Head-mounted displays (HMDs) have emerged as a promising tool for these exercises, offering the ability to generate unreliable or conflicting visual stimuli, thereby enhancing vestibular and proprioceptive input weighting. This study aimed to determine whether a virtual reality (VR)-based rehabilitation program using HMDs is non-inferior to a conventional program employing an optokinetic stimulator and slaved environmental surround for multisensory balance exercises.

Methods

Seventy-six participants with vestibular disorders were randomized into either the VR-based or conventional rehab

SUBMITTER: Le Perf G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12008832 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature