AUTHOR=Kingma Herman , Hougaard Dan Dupont , van de Berg Raymond 

TITLE=Subconscious vibrotactile stimulation improves mobility and balance in patients with bilateral vestibulopathy: adherence over 2 years

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2024.1491195

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2024.1491195

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objective</title><p>To investigate the effect of daily use of subconscious vibrotactile stimulation in bilateral vestibulopathy (BVP) patients, who judged the effect of vestibular rehabilitation as insufficient.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>BVP patients were asked to wear a subconscious vibrotactile stimulation belt for 2 h. Patients who reported benefit after 2 h of use, were instructed to wear a subconscious vibrotactile stimulation belt in daily life, for up to more than 2 years. Follow-up consultations (mostly by telephone calls) were scheduled after 2 weeks, 2 months, 1 year, and 2 years of use. During these consultations, adherence and the self-reported overall Balance and Mobility Score (BMS) were evaluated.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>One hundred twenty-one BVP patients were included. Regarding adherence, 74% of patients (<italic>n</italic> = 89) wanted to proceed with daily use at home after 2 h of try out. Of these patients, 90% (<italic>n</italic> = 80) was still wearing the belt daily after 2 months, and at least 81% (<italic>n</italic> = 72) after 1 year and 73% (<italic>n</italic> = 65) after 2 years. It should be noted that lack of adherence after 1 and 2 years resulted from a loss to follow-up. All patients responding to telephone consultations in the 2 years follow up were wearing a subconscious vibrotactile stimulation belt daily. The median BMS score significantly improved within 2 h of use, from 4 to 6 points (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.0001). Compared to baseline, the median BMS score significantly improved with &gt;=3 points after 2 weeks, 2 months, 1 year, and 2 years of daily use (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.0001). Long-term adherence was high in patients who experienced an increase of two or more points on the BMS, after 2 weeks of daily use.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>The Subconscious vibrotactile stimulation improves self-reported balance and mobility in a subgroup of motivated BVP patients in which vestibular rehabilitation is insufficient.</p></sec>