Comparison of Cvemp in Dance Practitioners & Non Dance Practitioners

Nithin Ak, Johnson SS and Jose S

Published on: 2022-10-21

Abstract

Vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP or VsEP) is a neurophysiological assessment technique used to determine the function of otolithic organs (utricle and saccule) of the inner ear. It complements the information provided by caloric testing and other forms of inner ear (vestibular apparatus) testing. There are two types of VEMPs. One is the oVEMP and the other is cVEMP. The oVEMP measures the integrity of the utricule and superior vestibular nerve, and cVemp measures the saccule and the inferior vestibular nerve (Manzari, Burgess & Curthoys, 2010).

Purpose

The current study was conducted with the aim of investigating the plasticity of the sacculocollic pathway in skilled dancers and non-dancers.

Method

Two teams of subjects,a management cluster and an experimental cluster, participated in the study. The experimental cluster was further divided into 2 subgroups- skilled dancers who have received coaching in Bharatanatyam dance; and skilled dancers who have received coaching in Salsa dance. The experimental cluster consisted of total Forty subjects (80 ears), and 20 subjects (40 ears) in every subgroup, management cluster consisted of thirty people (60 ears).

Results

The results revealed an enhancement in the amplitudes of P13, N23 and P13-N23, in skilled dancers compared with the normal management cluster. Results, but did not reveal any significant differencesin the latency of P13 and N23 peaks within the two teams. The difference in amplitude between the two teams was attributed to the sacculocollic pathway in the dancers.

Conclusion

The results showed a significant difference in terms of the amplitude of the VEMP responses between dancers and non-dancers. From the current study, it can also be concluded that dance practice may improve the sacculocollic pathway. The amplitude of the VEMP parameters may be a better tool for reviewing the physical properties of the sacculocollic pathway than the latency parameters.