This prospective, non-randomized, three-arm clinical trial evaluates the effect of two pre- and postoperative vestibular rehabilitation strategies on postoperative vestibular compensation in adults undergoing surgery for unilateral vestibular schwannoma. Aberrant vestibular compensation following vestibular neurectomy is common, and many patients experience prolonged imbalance, dizziness, altered gaze stabilization, and delayed return to functional independence. Early activation of vestibular adaptation, habituation, and substitution mechanisms may help optimize postoperative recovery.
The study compares three parallel cohorts:
a no-intervention group receiving standard clinical care,
a telerehabilitation group performing a structured home-based vestibular exercise program before and after surgery, and
an enhanced rehabilitation group receiving the same telerehabilitation program plus a progressive protocol of supervised preoperative rotatory chair stimulation.
Telerehabilitation is delivered through the ReHub platform, which provides guided vestibular exercises, real-time feedback, adherence tracking, and clinician monitoring. Preoperative rotatory stimulation consists of six supervised sessions over three weeks (two per week), following a structured progression in rotational velocity and post-rotation visual fixation tasks. The purpose of this stimulation is to facilitate preoperative habituation, improve gaze stabilization mechanisms, and prime central vestibular adaptation prior to the abrupt loss of vestibular function caused by surgery.
All participants undergo standardized assessments of vestibular function and balance control at predefined time points. These include the video Head Impulse Test (vHIT) to quantify VOR gain and refixation saccades, dynamic posturography to evaluate postural stability, and the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) to assess perceived disability. Hospital length of stay (LOS) is obtained directly from clinical records. Assessments are performed four weeks before surgery and at 4 and 12 weeks postoperatively.
The three-group design allows evaluation of:
1. the effect of pre- and postoperative vestibular telerehabilitation compared with no intervention,
2. the added effect of preoperative rotatory chair stimulation beyond telerehabilitation alone, and
3. the overall magnitude of combined preoperative rehabilitation strategies on functional recovery.
The study uses a sequential convenience sampling approach due to practical and ethical considerations related to implementation of the interventions. All data are collected at a tertiary referral center with specialized vestibular and neurotologic resources, ensuring standardized assessments and consistent clinical follow-up.
The primary objective is to compare postoperative vestibular compensation across groups, evaluated through changes in vHIT gain and refixation saccade patterns. Secondary objectives include differences in posturography metrics, DHI scores, and length of hospital stay. Additional exploratory analyses will examine the influence of age, sex, tumor size, and preoperative post-rotatory nystagmus inhibition time (TINPR) on rehabilitation outcomes.
The trial aims to generate evidence to inform future standardized rehabilitation pathways for patients undergoing vestibular schwannoma surgery, integrating digital rehabilitation tools and targeted vestibular stimulation to optimize central compensation mechanisms.
