A Blinded, Controlled Randomized Clinical Trial on the Efficacy of Neck Muscle Vibration in Patients with Post-Stroke Spatial Neglect.
Britta Stammler, Carina Thiel, Anne Lieb and 2 others
PMID 41587874WHAT IT FOUND
Neck vibration plus general computer training did not improve post-stroke spatial neglect more than standard neglect therapy plus placebo vibration.
Both groups improved similarly on neglect tests and daily activities, so this small trial does not show vibration is superior.
Key findings
01Direct comparison of active neck vibration plus general cognitive training against standard neglect therapy plus placebo vibration found no significant differences on the four neglect tests, free exploration, the averaged daily-activity score, or the observer-rated neglect scale.
02Within the active neck vibration group, three of four neglect tests improved significantly and free exploration improved significantly; within the placebo vibration group, the copying task improved significantly and seven of eight daily-activity tasks improved significantly.
03In the active neck vibration group, neglect-test improvements remained stable at the one-month follow-up assessment.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only 10 patients were in each group, so the trial may miss small differences between treatments. Random allocation was based on admission order, so allocation could not be concealed in advance. Patients were blinded to group, but the text does not say whether assessors were blinded. Both groups received computer-based training, so the study cannot isolate the effect of vibration from the training. Only the active group had one-month follow-up, so long-term comparison with standard therapy is incomplete. Five patients were excluded, including four with spontaneous remission after one week, which may limit generalizability. Some assessments were missing for individual patients.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest and received no financial support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that neck vibration alone treats spatial neglect. The active group also received computer-based training, and the trial did not show vibration was better than standard neglect therapy with placebo vibration.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →