Effects of Balance Exercise With or Without Gaze Stabilization Exercises on Clinical Outcomes in Elderly Patients With Chronic Dizziness:A Randomized Controlled Trial

In older adults dizziness is a common condition which is associated with repeated falls, fear of falling, depression, anxiety and ultimately loss of independence during activities of daily living. The main objective of this research was to compare the effects of balance training with and without Gaze Stabilization exercises on clinical outcomes in elderly patient with chronic dizziness.Total 64 participants after referral from neurologist were recruited in this study. These participants were randomly assigned into two groups i.e. Group A (Gaze group) and Group B (control group) with 32 participants in each group by sealed envelope method. Gaze group performed balance exercises with gaze stability exercises. Gaze stability exercises are further classified as adaptation and substitution exercises. Adaptation exercises support long term changes with a purpose of decreasing symptoms and maintain postural stability. On the other hand the substitution exercises improving central preprogrammed movement of eyes. Basically gaze stability exercises are defined as habituation exercises which reduce the symptoms of provoking stimulus by continuous exposure to it whereas, group B performed balance exercises with saccade eye exercises.Balance training includes both static and dynamic balance exercises, aimed to improved balance and postural stability with gradually increasing to challenging task. Exercises in balance training included a) single leg balance on firm surface b) heel stand c) marching on firm surface d) toe stand e) tandem walk f) forward and backward walking from normal base of support to weekly progression and training from eyes open to eye close from stable to unstable surface. Berg Balance Scale, Disability Handicapped inventory and Activity Specific Balance Confidence Scale were used to measure outcome variables.