Vestibular rehabilitation: clinical benefits to patients with Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of the vestibular rehabilitation (VR) exercises by means of an assessment before and after the application of the Brazilian version of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) questionnaire. METHOD Twelve patients were studied, the following procedures were carried out: anamnesis, otorhinolaryngological and vestibular evaluation, and the application of the DHI before and after the VR. RESULTS Clinically resting tremors and subjective postural instability were the motor complaints most frequently associated with complaints of vertigo in 12 cases (100%); in the vestibular exam, all the patients presented abnormalities, frequently from the uni and bilateral peripheral vestibular deficiency syndromes in 10 cases (83.3%); there was significant improvement in the physical, functional and emotional aspects of the DHI after the completion of the VR. CONCLUSION The VR following the Cawthorne and Cooksey protocol were shown to be useful in managing subjective complaints of several aspects evaluated in this protocol.