Zainun Z and Sarmiento E S
University Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
Instituto Finlay, Malaysia
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Surgery Curr Res
Vestibular rehabilitation is one of the optimum treatments to promote the recovery among vestibular disordered patients. The effectiveness of these physical therapies has been clearly demonstrated. In fact, having an effective therapy that is home based offers many advantages to the patients and clinicians. The video-guided instructions are presented clearly in a systematic manner targeting different parts of the balance system. Zainun and her colleagues (2009) had developed the first video guided exercise that is home-based known as far; Bal Ex is available in ten languages including: Malay, English, Mandarin, Hokkien, Tamil, Persian, Arabic, Nigerian, Cantonese and Spanish version. This module was adapted with permission and underwent some modifications from the original version, i.e., CCCE (Pavlou et al., 2004). Bal Ex consists of twenty two movements divided into three levels include head and neck, positioning and postural movement. This module has many advantages which are easy to perform as there are step by step instructions presented with audio and visual cues. Second, since it is home-based, the patients do not have to travel frequently to the hospital for treatment. This is also practical for patients with reduced mobility and it also offers more flexibility. Indirectly, it is also cost-effective in a long run. Vestibular rehabilitation is one of the alternative treatments to promote the recovery among vestibular disordered patients. The effectiveness of these physical therapies has been clearly demonstrated. In fact, having an effective therapy that is home based offers many advantages to the patients and clinicians. The video-guided instructions are presented clearly in a systematic manner targeting different parts of the balance system. Future studies should concentrate on comparing the effectiveness of this video module between PVD and central vestibular disorder cases. It is also of interest to see whether this physical exercise is also helpful in other pathological group such as stroke.
Zuraida Z is a Senior Medical Lecturer in the Audiology program, School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). She has received her Medical degree (MD) from USM in 2002 and Master of Science (Medical Audiology) in 2010 from the same university. She has also been an active Researcher in the field balance and vestibular and has published more than 60 papers including journal, oral, books and proceedings. She is currently developing a virtual vestibular rehabilitation procedure for balance disordered patients.
Email: drzuraida@yahoo.com
