Head-Eye Vestibular Motion Therapy Affects the Mental and Physical Health of Severe Chronic Postconcussion Patients - PubMed Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Aug 22:8:414.
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2017.00414. eCollection 2017.

Head-Eye Vestibular Motion Therapy Affects the Mental and Physical Health of Severe Chronic Postconcussion Patients

Frederick Robert Carrick  1   2   3 , Joseph F Clark  4 , Guido Pagnacco  2   5 , Matthew M Antonucci  2   6 , Ahmed Hankir  1   7 , Rashid Zaman  1   8 , Elena Oggero  2   5
Affiliations

Head-Eye Vestibular Motion Therapy Affects the Mental and Physical Health of Severe Chronic Postconcussion Patients

Frederick Robert Carrick et al. Front Neurol. .

Abstract

Context: Approximately 1.8-3.6 million annual traumatic brain injuries occur in the United States. An evidence-based treatment for concussions that is reliable and effective has not been available.

Objective: The objective of this study is to test whether head-eye vestibular motion (HEVM) therapy is associated with decreased symptoms and increased function in postconcussive syndrome (PCS) patients that have been severely impaired for greater than 6 months after a mild traumatic brain injury.

Design: Retrospective clinical chart review.

Setting and participants: Tertiary Specialist Brain Rehabilitation Center.

Interventions: All subjects underwent comprehensive neurological examinations including measurement of eye and head movement. The seven modules of the C3 Logix Comprehensive Concussion Management System were used for pre- and postmeasurements of outcome of HEVM therapy.

Materials and methods: We utilized an objective validated measurement of physical and mental health characteristics of our patients before and after a 1-week HEVM rehabilitation program. We included only PCS patients that were disabled from work or school for a period of time exceeding 6 months after suffering a sports concussion. These subjects all were enrolled in a 5-day HEVM rehabilitation program at our Institutional Brain Center with pre- and post-C3 Logix testing outcomes.

Results: There were statistical and substantive significant decreases in PCS symptom severity after treatment and statistical and substantive significant increases in standardized assessment of concussion scores. The outcomes were associated with positive changes in mental and physical health issues. This is a retrospective review and no control group has been included in this study. These are major limitations with retrospective reviews and further investigations with prospective designs including a randomized controlled study are necessary to further our understanding.

Conclusion: Head-eye vestibular motion therapy of 5 days duration is associated with statistical and substantive significant decreases of symptom severity associated with chronic PCS.

Keywords: C3 Logix; concussion; eye movement; head movement; mTBI; neuro-otology; postconcussion syndrome; vestibular.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Box plots and regression models of symptom severity and SAC scores pre- and post-HEVM therapy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Box plots of C3 Logix variables pre- and post-HEVM therapy.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Box plots of C3 Logix variables pre- and post-HEVM therapy.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Box plots of C3 Logix variables pre- and post-HEVM therapy.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Box plots of C3 Logix variables pre- and post-HEVM therapy.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Semipartial R2 of the correlations of symptom severity Pre-HEVM treatment with irritability and sleeping less soundly.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Reeves RR, Panguluri RL. Neuropsychiatric complications of traumatic brain injury. J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv (2011) 49:42–50.10.3928/02793695-20110201-03 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Moser RS, Schatz P. A case for mental and physical rest in youth sports concussion: it’s never too late. Front Neurol (2012) 3:171.10.3389/fneur.2012.00171 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vanderploeg RD, Belanger HG, Curtiss G. Mild traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder and their associations with health symptoms. Arch Phys Med Rehabil (2009) 90:1084–93.10.1016/j.apmr.2009.01.023 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pang EW. Different neural mechanisms underlie deficits in mental flexibility in post-traumatic stress disorder compared to mild traumatic brain injury. Front Psychiatry (2015) 6:170.10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00170 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Heitger MH, Jones RD, Macleod AD, Snell DL, Frampton CM, Anderson TJ. Impaired eye movements in post-concussion syndrome indicate suboptimal brain function beyond the influence of depression, malingering or intellectual ability. Brain (2009) 132:2850–70.10.1093/brain/awp181 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources