The Digital Evolution of Vestibular Rehabilitation: From Cawthorne-Cooksey to a Digital Future/to Digital Care

Recent innovations in technology including apps that transform virtual vestibular rehabilitation are described. The use of telehealth in the rehabilitation of people with vestibular disorders is relatively new. The advantages of telehealth for vestibular rehabilitation are described....

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Digital and app-based vestibular rehabilitation platforms are expanding access but evidence for their equivalence to in-person care remains limited — clinicians should not yet substitute digital-only care for structured in-person vestibular physiotherapy without patient-level clinical judgement.

Digital vestibular rehabilitation could greatly improve access and adherence for patients who cannot attend in-person therapy, but the field needs robust comparative effectiveness data before widespread adoption.

1. 01Traces vestibular rehabilitation from Cawthorne-Cooksey exercises (1940s–50s head/eye movement routines) to digital platforms.
2. 02Covers app-based and telehealth-enabled approaches to balance disorder therapy.
3. 03Published in Neurologic Clinics as part of a broader digital vestibular medicine series.
4. 04Highlights patient access and adherence as key motivators for digital transition.
5. 05Does not report original trial data; frames the narrative evolution of the field.

PMID

42869521

DOI

10.1016/j.ncl.2026.07.003.

Journal

Neurologic Clinics

Publication type

review

Evidence level

5

Population

Patients undergoing vestibular rehabilitation across historical and contemporary care models

Intervention

Digital vestibular rehabilitation (app-based and telehealth platforms)

Comparator

Traditional Cawthorne-Cooksey vestibular exercises and in-person rehabilitation