European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background: Imbalance still a common and fatal problem among the elderly population, increasing morbidity and mortality rate in society among the elderly, This study assessed the efficacy of galvanic vestibular stimulation on balance in the elderly.
Subjects and methods: Forty elderly patients of both sexes (23male and 17female) their age ranged from 60 to 70 years old were selected from the outpatient clinic of the Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University. The forty patients were divided into two groups; each group consisted of twenty patients. Group (A) performed a program of balance exercises in addition to galvanic vestibular stimulation 3times/week and group (B) control group performed a program of traditional balance exercises. The balance was assessed at the beginning of the study and after 12 weeks of treatment.
Results: Showed that there are no significant differences (P>0.05) for Biodex scores of both groups as the post- treatment mean values ± SD of the biodex scores for both groups (A and B) were (3.70±1.69 and 4.19±1.70), respectively and no significant differences for functional reaching test scores (P<0.05) as the post- treatment mean values ± SD of functional reaching test scores for both groups (A and B) were (21.61±2.44 and20.26±2.99), respectively.
Conclusion: it was found that galvanic vestibular stimulation was not considered an effective intervention in improving balance in elderly > 60 years.