OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of vestibular rehabilitation in a group of elderly patients with dizziness. METHOD: All subjects were evaluated according to the dizziness handicap inventory and underwent tests of static and dynamic balance with eyes open and eyes closed before and after the RV. There were 8 VR sessions in groups of 3-4 subjects. The Hawthorne and Cooksey protocol was used. RESULTS: We evaluated 10 patients, 4 men (40%) and 6 women (60%). In this sample, 60% of patients had tinnitus. The average age was 68.9 years. All subjects exhibited improved performance on the walking tests, eyes open (EO) or closed (EC), after VR. The average VR for EO was 3.3 pre-VR and 4.4 post-VR. The average pre-EC VR was 1.5; the average after RV was 3.7. DHI scores were lower after the RV in all subjects, with average DHI before RV = 33.8 and average DHI after RV = 8.0. CONCLUSION: The elderly individuals suffering from dizziness, who were included in this study, showed impaired quality of life in relation to physical, emotional, and functional DHI components. After VR, all reported a decrease in RV dizziness and improved balance with an increase in quality of life. Seniors who participated in VR showed improvement in all static and dynamic tests and were able to complete more tests after RV.
