Abstract
Postural instability and fear of falling represent two major causes of decreased mobility and quality of life in cerebrovascular and neurologic diseases. In recent years, rehabilitation strategies were carried out considering a combined sensorimotor intervention and an active involvement of the patients during the rehabilitation sessions. Accordingly, new technological devices and paradigms have been developed to increase the effectiveness of rehabilitation by integrating multisensory information and augmented feedback promoting the involvement of the cognitive paradigm in neurorehabilitation. In this context, the vibrotactile feedback (VF) could represent a peripheral therapeutic input, in order to provide spatial proprioceptive information to guide the patient during task-oriented exercises. The present systematic review and metanalysis aimed to explore the effectiveness of the VF on balance and gait rehabilitation in patients with neurological and cerebrovascular diseases. A total of 18 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included. Due to the lack of high-quality studies and heterogeneity of treatments protocols, clinical practice recommendations on the efficacy of VF cannot be made. Results show that VF-based intervention could be a safe complementary sensory-motor approach for balance and gait rehabilitation in patients with neurological and cerebrovascular diseases. More high-quality randomized controlled trials are needed.
Highlights
The results showed that the vibrotactile feedback (VF) can influence walking and gait parameters of patients with neurological diseases immediately and after a rehabilitation program lasting a few days
This review and meta-analysis highlights the effects of the VF provided during motor tasks, on gait and balance in patients with neurological diseases
The VF could be considered in the context of neurorehabilitation as a supportive sensory stimulus, not enough trials were found to establish the effectiveness of a rehabilitation program that includes the VF
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Balance is a complex multi-factorial system in which both motor and sensory components interact one with other [1]. The central nervous system integrates the information originate from visual, vestibular, proprioceptive and cognitive systems in a continuous sensorial re-weighting that ensure postural control in static and dynamic condition [1]. The weighting of the sensory inputs depends on both the environmental conditions and the motor task performed by the subject [2,3,4]
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