Assesment, diagnosis and prognosis of bells palsy: a literature review

Abstract

Facial (VII th cranial nerve) palsy is a condition that affects 1 in 5000 people worldwide. More recently it has appeared as one form of the neural manifestations of infection by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. As such it is likely that this condition will feature more prominently in the caseload of physiotherapists. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to present to physiotherapists existing knowledge on the diagnosis, objective assessment and prognosis of facial palsy through a literature review. All available primary and secondary sources of literature were obtained through a search of Medline, Sabinet, PEDRO, the Cochrane library and a wide Google search. Objective ways of assessing Bells palsy and its recovery as used currently by the Belly Palsy Association and accepted by the American Academy of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck, are presented together with diagnosis and prognosis.