JOURNAL OF CLINICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC RESEARCH · May 11, 2026

Effectiveness of Vestibular Exercise as an Adjunct with Pharmacotherapy in the Management of Cognitive Functions and Postural Control in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease: A Randomised Controlled Trial

By Annaiah E, Chandrasekaran D, Goothy SSK et al.

Introduction: Parkinson’s disease is the most common presenting neurological disorder worldwide. Vestibular exercises have been used in the clinical setting in the management of multiple conditions, like Down syndrome. However, studies regarding the application of exercises stimulating the vestibular apparatus in the symptomatic management of Parkinson’s disease are sparse. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of vestibular exercises as an adjunctive intervention to standard pharmacological treatment (L-DOPA) for enhancing cognitive function and postural control in individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Materials and Methods: The present randomised controlled trial was conducted at the Department of Physiology, Sri Madhusudan Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Chikkaballapur, Karnataka, India from 05-08-2024 to 18-09- 2025. Total 80 participants were randomly assigned into two separate groups, that is, control (n=41) and experimental groups (n=39). A structured 25-minute vestibular exercise program was implemented in the study. Spatial memory, verbal memory and 100-pin dexterity test were assessed in the participants before and after intervention and compared. Data was collected during baseline setting and after 12 weeks of intervention in both groups and compared. The data were compared using KruskalWallis, One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) on ranks with Dunn’s post-hoc multiple comparisons test for between-group and within-group analysis. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age among control and experimental group was 57.2±1.4 years and 56.3±1.4 years, mean body mass index in control and experimental group was 20.3±0.2 kg/m2 and 21.1±0.2 kg/m2 . Substantial improvement was observed in verbal memory, visual reaction time for green and red light, and auditory reaction time for high and low pitch sounds, 100 pin test, TUG in the experimental group in comparison to the control group (p-value <0.001). Conclusion: Significant improvement was observed in the cognitive functions and postural control in the experimental group participants followed by vestibular exercises. The study recommends further large-scale, multicentric investigations to validate these outcomes and to explore the potential integration of vestibular exercises into the primary management strategies for Parkinson’s disease.

doi.org/10.7860/jcdr/2026/81546.23506 Open access Interventions