Over the last 25 years, intensive efforts by physicians, physical therapists, and occupational therapists have developed integrative rehabilitation regimens that can alleviate balance disorders associated with neurological disease, trauma or weightlessness. A special issue of NeuroRehabilitation: An Interdisciplinary Journal provides an up-to-date review of the underlying scientific principles and latest clinical advances in the treatment of vestibular problems commonly encountered in neurorehabilitation. The journal is celebrating its 20th anniversary of publication this year.
“Clinical advances have been facilitated by three major developments,” explains Michael E. Hoffer, MD, FACS, of the Spatial Orientation Center in the Department of Otolaryngology at the Naval Medical Center San Diego, Guest Editor of this issue along with Carey D. Balaban, PhD, Departments of Otolaryngology, Neurobiology, and Communications Sciences and Disorders, and Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. “First, more sensitive and sophisticated quantitative tools for measuring balance function provide validated and robust metrics to assess and document clinical outcomes. A second development was the recognition that balance rehabilitation does not ‘belong’ to a single group of practitioners in medicine or in the allied health professions. A better result is achieved by a team to ameliorate the physical, neurological, perceptual, and psychiatric features of balance disorders. A third development has been the spread of specialized training in the theory and practice of vestibular rehabilitation in physical therapy and allied health degree programs around the world.”
The issue covers such topics as the neurophysiology underlying vestibular rehabilitation; application and interpretation of vestibular tests; “prehabilitation” to ameliorate the effects of sudden vestibular loss; principles of physical therapy rehabilitation; vestibular rehabilitation after MTBI; assessment of functional outcomes in patients after rehabilitation; behavioral aspects of vestibular rehabilitation; and sensorimotor reconditioning before and after space flight.
“It is safe to say, at this point, vestibular rehabilitation is recognized as one of the most valuable techniques in treating patients with balance disorders,” concludes Dr. Hoffer.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Full text of the articles is available to credentialed journalists. Contact Daphne Watrin, IOS Press, at +31 20 688 3355 or d.watrin@iospress.nl to obtain copies or request interviews with authors.
Vestibular Rehabilitation: Ready for the Mainstream
Guest Editors: Michael E. Hoffer, MD, FACS, and Carey D. Balaban, PhD
NeuroRehabilitation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 29(2)
Special Issue Table of Contents:
Guest Editorial, M.E. Hoffer and C.D. Balaban
Neurophysiology of Vestibular Rehabilitation, T.C. Hain
Vestibular Tests for Rehabilitation: Applications and Interpretation, E. Slattery, B. Sinks, and J.A. Goebel
“PREHAB”: Vestibular Prehabilitation to Ameliorate the Effect of a Sudden Vestibular Loss, M. Magnusson, M. Karlberg, and F. Tjernstrom
Principles of Vestibular Physical Therapy Rehabilitation, S.L. Whitney and P.J. Sparto
Vestibular Rehabilitation After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury with Vestibular Pathology, K. Gottshall
Assessment of Functional Outcomes in Patients with Vestibular Disorders after Rehabilitation, H.S. Cohen
Behavioral Aspects of Vestibular Rehabilitation, J.P. Staab
Sensorimotor Reconditioning During and After Space Flight, S.J. Wood, J.A. Loehr, and M.E. Guilliams
20th Anniversary Article: “Measuring and Manipulating Subjective Organization After Traumatic Brain Injury”: Rick Parente, Ellen DeMott, Craig Johnson, Peter Jennings, and Rebecca Silver. RICK Parente, PhD, and colleagues from Towson University in Towson, MD, and Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, report on a simple diagnostic assessment that can help identify the extent to which a person can organize subjectively after traumatic brain injury (TBI), and the implications for cognitive rehabilitation therapy. The article is one of a series of special articles written by exceptional authors in the field, published throughout 2011 in honor of the journal’s 20th anniversary.
ABOUT NEUROREHABILITATION: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL
Celebrating its twentieth anniversary, NeuroRehabilitation; An Interdisciplinary Journal is an international journal that emphasizes publication of scientifically based, practical information relevant to all aspects of neurologic rehabilitation. Founded in 1991, it features peer-reviewed articles that are interdisciplinary in nature and cover the full life span and range of neurological disabilities including stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, neuromuscular disease, and other neurological disorders. Information is intended for an interdisciplinary audience. Issues of the journal are thematically organized. Themes have focused on specific clinical disorders, types of therapy, and age groups. www.iospress.nl/journal/neurorehabilitation
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