The Effects of Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy Supported With Virtual Reality on Dizziness and Balance in the Elderly Patients With Dizziness

INTRODUCTION:

Dizziness, is a condition that includes spatial orientation and motion perception disorder symptoms such as swivel illusion or sensation of instability, which can affect gaze stability, posture and walking. This problem is seen in about 30% of the elderly living in society and the prevalence increases with age (1). Patients with history of dizziness have limitations in daily activities, increased fear of falling, increased anxiety and depression, decreased quality of life, and increased risk of falls (2,3).

It has been shown that vestibular rehabilitation programs including postural control and balance exercises as well as recurrent head, eye, and trunk movements have positive effects on dizziness, balance and falling risk in the elderly (4,5).

Exercise programs are often performed in the clinical setting or at home, and participation in the exercise program of real-life environments such as a street, supermarket, park, workplace, where traffic is available can make a difference in patient motivation and exercise effectiveness. Positive effects on walking, postural control, balance and mobility in the elderly have been reported with exercises in the form of interactive games such as "Nintendo Wii", "Balance Rehabilitation Unit", dance video games where virtual reality technologies are used (6-10). There was no study investigating the effects of virtual reality created by virtual glasses and smartphone technology, on balance, functional mobility, falling risk, anxiety and depression in the elderly.

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of vestibular rehabilitation exercises supported with virtual reality using virtual glasses technology on dizziness, static and dynamic balance, functional mobility, fear of falling, anxiety and depression in the short term (3 weeks) in the elderly with dizziness.