Use of optokinetic chart stimulation to reduce whole body shaking and restore walking ability

What is it about?

Whole body shaking stops affected people from being able to sit on their own. They lose the ability to walk and have to use hoists and assistance of 2 people to transfer. Optokinetic chart stimulation helped to resolve whole body shaking and restore walking ability in a person with non-hereditory and non-progressive whole body shaking. This resulted in the person nurses were scared of hoisting, due to their shaking in the sling, being able to walk with a wheeled zimmer frame and assistance of one person. This enabled them to leave hospital and return home to walk independently with a wheeled zimmer frame after further walking practice in a rehabilitation facilitation that prepared them for returning home.

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Why is it important?

The patient and staff were struggling to manage the whole body shaking even as they used a sling hoist for transfers. Usual therapy had failed to improve the shaking and the person's ability to sit on their own by the side of the bed. This paper is important as it shows that addressing the root cause of the shaking by stimulating the affected brain is important rather than just practising functional activities.

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