The Effects of Motion Sickness on Balance and Gait

Abstract

Background:The term "motion sickness" (also called "kinetosis") describes a set of symptoms that occur in association with motion of a person or his or her surroundings, triggering a stress reaction that results in autonomic symptoms. The onset is often insidious, with drowsiness/yawning, dizziness, reduced alertness, and symptoms progress through cold sweating, pallor, excessive salivation, and occasionally headache, to nausea and vomiting with incapacitation that can be severe. Motion sickness usually occurs due to a visuo-vestibular conflict. Part of it is psychological as well as the symptoms of motion sickness are triggered in some people by just reading about it. Method:A cross-sectional study was performed in college going students for six months using the MSSQ-short and the Mini BESTest to assess the susceptibility of motion sickness as well as balance and gait respectively. Conclusion:Balance and gait was found to be significantly affected in people with motion sickness.