Effectiveness of a Balance Rehabilitation Program With Sensory Recalibration After Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Imbalance is particularly severe after a Cerebral Vascular Accident because they not only limit the capacity of transfer and are a source of falls but also represent an obstacle to the acquisition of autonomy.

When the brain lesion is located in the right hemisphere, the prognosis in terms of equilibrium is worse probably because of the presence of disorders of spatial cognition. These disorders of spatial cognition are manifested by a distortion of the mental representation of space and body in space that probably cause a deviation of the position of the center of pression on platform. This component of balance disorders secondary to disruption of spatial cognition, do not benefit at present from specific rehabilitative treatment despite the severity of the consequences.

But the application of sensory manipulations has proven its effectiveness on visuospatial neglect that is another disorder of spatial cognition closed to the pathophysiology of balance disorders after right brain lesion. Sensory manipulations decrease the distortion of internal representations of the body in space by restoring the symmetry of sensory inputs. Some of these manipulations (visual manipulation by wearing prisms and proprioceptive manipulations) are also effective on the immediate correction of postural imbalances on force platform and disorders of spatial perception.

We therefore believe that the approach by repeated sensory manipulation is a new promising way of research for the rehabilitative treatment of balance disorders secondary to disorders of spatial cognition. As the mechanisms of action and the structures involved during proprioceptive vibration of neck muscles and during visual prism adaptation are different, we believe that the combination of these two types of sensory manipulations will permit to obtain a greater and longer lasting effect than a lonely manipulation. The concomitant evaluation of the bias on postural platform and the perception of the body axis will allow us to assess the impact of such rehabilitation on the disorders of spatial representation and so better understand the mechanisms of action of sensory manipulations.

The main objective of this study is to test the effectiveness of a rehabilitation program with cervical vibration (V) and / or prism adaptation (P) in patients with left hemiplegia on balance at the end of the intervention (day14).