Effectiveness of Multisensory Exercises Versus Conventional Balance Exercises on Balance and Coordination in the Geriatric Population: A Systematic Review

Balance impairment is a major contributor to falls, morbidity, and loss of independence in older adults. Although conventional balance training is widely used, recent attention has shifted toward multisensory interventions, including balance tasks, dual-task training, and perturbation-based exercises, which target the visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems and may yield superior outcomes by improving sensory...

Continue reading at PubMed →

Multisensory exercise programs show promise for improving balance in older adults, but the systematic review's direct audiology applicability is limited to vestibular rehabilitation contexts; audiologists managing vestibular patients may consider multisensory approaches as adjuncts, but no protocol-level change is indicated until higher-quality primary trials confirm superiority.

Falls are the leading cause of injury in older adults and often co-occur with vestibular dysfunction, making evidence on optimal exercise paradigms relevant to audiologists providing vestibular rehabilitation.

1. 01Systematic review comparing multisensory vs. conventional balance exercises in geriatric populations.
2. 02Multisensory training incorporates stimuli from multiple senses (vision, proprioception, vestibular) simultaneously.
3. 03Outcome measures include balance performance and coordination relevant to fall prevention.
4. 04Findings have indirect relevance to audiologists conducting vestibular rehabilitation.
5. 05Evidence quality across included studies likely limits strength of conclusions.

PMID

42666829

DOI

10.7759/cureus.113574.

Journal

Cureus

Publication type

systematic_review

Evidence level

1a

Population

Older adults (geriatric population) with balance or coordination impairments

Intervention

Multisensory balance exercises

Comparator

Conventional balance exercises