Reactive Balance Deficits Differ in People After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Based on Chronicity of Self-Reported Symptoms.
Cecilia Monoli, Paula K Johnson, Amanda J Morris and 3 others
PMID 41587877WHAT IT FOUND
People with chronic dizziness after mild brain injury took longer to regain balance after a push than those with acute symptoms.
Acute patients reacted more slowly but stabilized as fast as healthy adults. Balance strategies shifted from slow reaction to slow recovery as symptoms persisted.
Key findings
01Chronic mTBI groups had significantly longer time to stability than controls, while acute groups did not.
02Acute mTBI groups had significantly longer step latency than controls, but chronic and sub-acute groups did not.
03Symptom severity correlated with balance deficits in acute and sub-acute phases, but not in the chronic phase.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Cross-sectional design: Participants were not followed over time, so differences between groups may reflect different populations rather than progression in the same individuals. Small sample sizes in sub-acute (n=11) and chronic (n=11) groups limit generalizability. Cognitive task performance was not recorded in dual-task conditions, so it is unclear if balance deficits were due to the motor task or the cognitive load. Symptom chronicity definitions vary in literature; this study used specific cutoffs (14 days/12 weeks) that may not align with all clinical practices.
Declared interests
None reported in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that acute mTBI patients have worse reactive balance than chronic patients based on symptom reports. The study found that acute patients stabilized as quickly as healthy controls, albeit with slower reactions, while chronic patients had significantly slower stabilization. Also, do not rely on self-reported symptom severity to predict balance deficits in chronic patients, as the association disappeared in that group.
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 →