Complementary/Alternative Medicine for Abnormality in the Vestibular (Balance) System

Complementary/Alternative Medicine for Vestibulopathy

The purpose of this study is to determine the relative merits of vestibular rehabilitation and Tai Chi for patients with inner ear (vestibular) disorders.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

It is proposed a randomized, blinded, controlled trial comparing vestibular rehabilitation (VR) to Tai Chi (TC). Our overall goal is to explore whether, and if so, how TC can improve functional, dynamic stability in persons with vestibulopathy (VSP). It is hypothesized that the TC group will demonstrate significantly greater improvement in performing functional activities than the VR group.

Sixty subjects will be randomly assigned into either TC instruction or VR. Both treatment groups will receive identical duration treatment once a week for 10 weeks, with supplemental home exercises. It is hypothesized that 1) TC improves whole-body dynamic locomotor stability more than does VR; 2) TC improves gait coordination during planned and unplanned obstacle encounters more than does VR; 3) TC improves whole-body speed related movement control more than does VR.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment

60

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114
        • Massachusetts General Hospital Biomotion Laboratory

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Main inclusion criteria:

  • vestibulopathy and locomotor unsteadiness

Main exclusion criteria:

  • diseases/impairments that prevent rehab participation.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2001

Study Completion

April 1, 2003

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 20, 2002

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 21, 2002

First Posted (Estimate)

March 22, 2002

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 22, 2007

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 19, 2007

Last Verified

July 1, 2006

More Information

Terms related to this study

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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