A Comparative Study of effectiveness of Balance Training with and without Visual Cues on Activities of Daily Living in Stroke Patients

In stroke balance can be affected by deficits of strength, range of motion, proprioception, vision, vestibular function. Patients are trained to rely more on visual input to maintain balance but rarely are trained for the vestibular and other sensory system. Balance is also a predictor of functional rehabilitation. Hence aim of this study is to find out the difference between training somatosensory, vestibular and tactile system with and without visual cues, with emphasis on balance and its effect on ADL and mobility in stroke patients.

Thirty post stroke subjects with balance problem were assigned into two groups: GroupA (Control) and GroupB (Experimental). Both the groups received similar balance training program for six weeks. Subjects of group A were allowed to use free vision and group B were deprived of visual cues during balance training. After six weeks both groups were re-evaluated for balance, ADL and mobility.

There was significant improvement in balance(p<0.001), ADL(p<0.001) and mobility(p<0.001) in both the groups but between the groups there was significant improvement in balance(p<0.01) but not in ADL(p>0.05)and mobility(p>0.05).

Balance is the basic need for doing all ADL activities but training for balance will not necessarily improve quality of ADL. This study suggests that patients improved their integration of somatosensory and vestibular input and enables them to use the pertinent input to become less reliant on visual input. From this result it was concluded that balance training without vision is more effective in balance recovery in stroke patients.