Rehabilitation in the management of people with persistent peripheral facial paralysis : A review of the literature

Objective: Assess the methodological quality of articles treating persistent facial palsy (FP) thanks to Cochrane tools assessment and a critical mind. To position ourselves on the relevance of physiotherapeutic care for people with persistent peripheral facial palsy, describe this care.

Recent findings: Peripheral FP has a high incidence and a strong impact on the quality of life of those affected. Numerous studies of low methodological quality have allowed reviews to be carried out in an attempt to justify physiotherapy management. The clustering of studies with individuals who had peripheral FP for more than 3 months and who have received physiotherapy intervention has not yet been carried out.

Data sources: A search was performed in PubMed and Google Scholar using all the declinations found for the terms "sequelae" and "a peripheral facial paralysis" or "bell’s palsy" and "physiotherapy". Owing to keywords, MeSH Terms and HeTOP terms.

Results: The 160 studies selected, 25 were analysed. The majority of the studies have serious suspicions of bias (13 of the 25 retained), 7 have a critical risk, 4 a moderate and only one low. Other methodological problems were found. Studies tend to show an improvement in intra-group markers in pre- and post-physiotherapy.

Conclusion: There is a correlation between the completion of physiotherapy and improvement in markers of persistent FP. Physiotherapy may be effective in persistent facial paralysis, but the quality of the studies prevents us from making a judgment on causality.

Author(s): Mara M*

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