Tele-Assessment and Face-to-Face Evaluation of Balance in MS

MS is characterized by clinical symptoms caused by lesions of the brain, spinal cord, or optic nerves that can affect balance, gait, and risk of falls. 50-80% of patients with MS have different levels of balance-related pathological findings. In addition, the imbalance is one of the most complained about findings by MS patients.

Balance and postural control disorders are the most common signs in patients with cerebellar tract damage. Many patients have reported problems with balance and gait causing serious disability. Therefore, disorders of balance and postural control in patients with MS are associated with difficulty in standing and performing functional activities. Effective quantitative methods are needed to assess postural imbalance to help clinicians assess the progression of this disorder.

Current literature suggests that home tele-rehabilitation and tele-medicine practices may be an alternative method effective enough to be equivalent to face-to-face physiotherapy treatments for patients with Ms. The advantages of Tele-medicine over normal care include increased social support, participant engagement, quality of care, cost-effectiveness, access to services (due to lack of transportation), and reducing the burden on healthcare professionals to make services easier to deploy. In cases such as Pandemic conditions, where face-to-face service is disrupted in clinics, tele-rehabilitation can be applied as a suitable alternative treatment method accessible to patients. The effectiveness of Tele-rehabilitation raises the question of whether tele-evaluation is as effective and accurate as in the clinic. Studies examining the effectiveness of Tele-assesment are still insufficient. The study is planned to address this deficiency.

The aim of this study is to compare the results of MS patients by applying valid and reliable methods used in balance assessment with face-to-face and online access methods, thereby investigating the effectiveness of balance assessment through online access.

The hypothesis in this study is that the results of the balance assessment with online access in MS patients will be consistent with the results of the balance assessment conducted face-to-face.

H0: Tele-assessments of balance do not give the same results as face-to-face balance assessments in MS patients.

H1: Tele-assessments of balance do not give the same results as face-to-face balance assessments in MS patients.