• Ibrahim M Nahla, Salem Elham El-Sayed, Abd-Elraouf Ehab Ragaa, and Abd El Hamid Amr Abd El Ghafar.
• Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
• Afr Health Sci. 2022 Mar 1; 22 (1): 377-383.

Backgroundregaining balance control is the key to decrease risk of falls in children with Down syndrome.ObjectivesTo compare between the effect of mechanical vestibular stimulation and balance exercises on balance in children with Down syndrome.MethodsThirty children participated in the study. They were divided randomly and equally into; group A and group B, both groups received the designed program with regular balance exercises for group A and mechanical vestibular stimulation for group B, treatment was conducted for one hour 3 times per week for 3 successive months. Balance as stability indexes (regarding anteroposterior, mediolateral and over all stability indexes) was evaluated before and after treatment by Biodex balance system.ResultsT-test was conducted to compare the mean values of stability indexes between groups. Non-significant difference between groups was recorded before treatment (p value > 0.05), while improvement was recorded when comparing post and pretreatment results for both groups (p > 0.0001). More significant improvement was recorded for group B when comparing the post treatment results with group A (p > 0.05).ConclusionMechanical vestibular stimulation is better added to the rehabilitation program to improve balance in children with Down syndrome.© 2022 Nahla MI et al.

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