Background: Subjective visual vertical (SVV) perception can be perturbed after stroke, but its effect on balance recovery is not yet known. Aim: To evaluate the influence of SVV perturbations on balance recovery after stroke. Methods: 28 patients (14 with a right hemisphere lesion (RHL) and 14 with a left hemisphere lesion (LHL)) were included, 5 were lost to follow-up. SVV perception was initially tested within 3 months after stroke, then at 6 months, using a luminous line, which the patients adjusted to the vertical position in a dark room. Mean deviation (V) and uncertainty (U), defined as the standard deviation of the SVV, were calculated for eight trials. Balance was initially assessed by the Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke (PASS), and at 6 months by the PASS (PASS6), a force platform (lateral and sagittal stability limits (LSL6 and SSL6)), the Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI6) and gait velocity (v6). Functional outcome was also assessed by the Functional Independence Measure at 6 months (FIM6). Conclusions: Initial misperception of verticality was related to a poor score for balance after stroke. This relationship seems to be independent of motricity and neglect. Rehabilitation programmes should take into account verticality misperceptions, which could be an important factors influencing balance recovery after stroke.

This preliminary study demonstrates the predominance of parasympathetic activity with the bladder emptied and a preponderance of sympathetic activity at the end of bladder filling in women with overactive bladder syndrome. These results suggest dysfunction in the autonomic balance, as implied in idiopathic overactive bladder syndrome. Further studies in a larger population of patients with overactive bladder syndrome with reference to normal subjects free of urinary symptoms are necessary to confirm this hypothesis.