Physiotherapy management of Bell’s palsy - A review of evidenced based physiotherapy practice

Abstract

Bell's palsy (BP) or otherwise known as idiopathic facial nerve palsy is a form of paralysis or weakness of one side of the face. Physiotherapy interventions accelerate recovery, improve facial function and reduce the occurrence of complications. The aim of this review was to study in the modern literature the effect of different physiotherapy interventions for the treatment and improvement of BP symptoms. Method: We reviewed the literature in all modern databases, for the period 2015-2021, for studies related to the effect of different physiotherapy interventions on the symptoms of patients with BP. Inclusion criteria were: to refer to patients with BP, to contain experimental and control groups and the studies to be clinical trials. Results: Out of the 114 papers that included in their title and abstract the search terms, only 10 were included in our literature review. In the studies, the average sample was 41.2 patients with a distribution of 10 to 94 individuals. Conclusions: The results of the studies showed a great improvement of the facial function, faster recovery and in particular an improvement of the facial symmetry when a program of the Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) method or the Kabat technique is applied in combination with nerve stimulation. In general, facial exercises seem to play an important role in improving the functioning of facial muscles when combined with other techniques or methods, while the application of acupressure massage seems to significantly reduce the underlying symptoms of paralysis and help improve the affected side.