Head, body movement may impact gait in patients with inner ear impairment

Main Category: Ear, Nose and Throat
Article Date: 20 May 2005 - 9:00 PDT

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This study identifies strategies for improving gait in people with inner ear balance organ abnormalities. Head and body movement irregularities were compared in 17 healthy volunteers and 18 volunteers with balance organ dysfunction during a stepping task.

Compared to healthy volunteers, volunteers with balance dysfunction displayed more irregular head and body motion. Although neither head nor body motion was relatively more impaired, they appeared to be abnormally coupled to one another.

Gait and balance training strategies for this population should consider each patient's potential for restoring a healthy decoupling of head and body movement.

Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development Tipsheet
The current issue of the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (JRRD) includes four articles on measurement, treatment, and causes of low back pain and five articles on prosthetic research, including the affect of practitioner knowledge and technique on prosthetic fit; rapid, low cost prosthetic production; and increase of skin temperature after a prosthetic limb is donned.

Contact: Judith LaVoie
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VA Research Communications Service
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