Hemifacial spasm and postural abnormalities; clinical and posturographical analyses

Hemifacial spasm (HFS) is defined as an involuntary, irregular clonic, or tonic movement of muscles innervated by the ipsilateral seventh cranial nerve. It is reported that the coexistence of non-motor- and motor-related symptoms can be seen in patients with HFS. Postural disturbances were investigated in some movement disorders; however, postural abnormalities due to HFS had not been reported before. In this study, we aimed to investigate the postural abnormalities in patients with HFS. In this cross-sectional, controlled study, Tinetti Balance and Gait Test (TBGT) scores and static posturography were performed on fifteen patients with HFS and fifteen healthy age- and sex-matched controls. The total TBGT score and TBGT-balance score were found to be significantly lower in the patient group than in the control group (p values were, respectively, 0.046 and 0.011). The ratio of the patients with high risk of falling was 40 %, and the difference was found to be significantly higher in the patient group (p value = 0.008). In Fourier analyses, a significant difference was found in the medium to high frequencies (F5–6) when the posturographic evaluation was performed on a solid ground with closed eyes, head rotated to right, and head rotated to the left positions (p values were, respectively, 0.045 and 0.007). The stability index of the HFS group was significantly higher than the control group when tested on the neutral, head right, and head left positions (p values were, respectively, 0.004, 0.049, and 0.003). In conclusion, our study showed that the patients with HFS have more balance and falling problems than the controls, which can be both clinically and posturographically determined. © 2014, Belgian Neurological Society