International Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Open Access

Vestibular Rehabilitation

Vestibular disorders induce ocular motor, posturo-locomotor, perceptive, and cognitive disorders that are severe handicaps for patients in their everyday life, and they significantly reduce their quality of life. Animal models of unilateral vestibular loss showed that the vestibular syndrome was composed of both static and dynamics deficits which compensation was achieved by different recovery mechanisms. While the static deficits oberved in stationary animals resulted from the imbalance between the Vestibular Nuclei (VN) on both sides, and their compensation by the restoration of the electrophysiological homeostasis in these nuclei over time, the dynamic deficits found in active animals moving head and body in space were poorly recovered and required the whole brain to elaborate new strategies, new learned behaviors.