Preliminary study after two years of use of Nausicaa system for seasickness management
, 2
Abstract
Background: Seasickness is a set of clinical signs from which approximately 30% of the population suffers with a severity and frequency that varies according to the state of the sea and according to each individual susceptibility. The medical treatments are varied but may provide annoying side effects. Vestibular rehabilitation has all its advantages in cases of professional unfitness. The objective of this work is to validate the first results of rehabilitation of seasickness using the Nausicaa system developed at the HIA in Brest.
Materials and methods: Retrospective study of the first 2 years of use of the Nausicaa system, from commissioning in November 2016 until December 2018. Twenty-eight patients were treated exclusively by the Nausicaa system with a minimum of 1 year of follow-up and a minimum of 90 days at sea per year.
Results: The average intensity of seasickness of these sailors decreased from 8.96 to 4.5 and the inability to hold one’s post from 8.36 to 3.7 after 10 rehabilitation sessions using this system. The Graybiel and Miller score was markedly improved (decrease of 2 to 3 grades) in 62% of the patients, and partially improved (decrease of one grade) in 20% of the sailors. A total of 82% of rehabilitated patients were improved by this treatment without any side effects.
Conclusions: The analysis of the results on a retrospective questionnaire describing clinical signs 1 year later is necessarily subjective. The use of visual analogic scales from 1 to 10 concerning the intensity of motion sickness and the inability to hold one’s position seems to be an easy way to assess discomfort. The comparison with other series seems to show a slight superiority of the Nausicaa system compared to optokinetic rehabilitation or by visual simulator alone.
Keywords: sea sicknessmotion sicknessvirtual realitysensory conflictvertical stimulation
References
- Sherman CR. Motion sickness: review of causes and preventive strategies. J Travel Med. 2002; 9(5): 251–256.
- Jégaden D, Menaheze M, Lucas D. Influence du mal de mer sur le travail de chercheurs embarqués à bord de navires océanographiques français. Archives des Maladies Professionnelles et de l'Environnement. 2019; 80(5): 367–374.
- Reason JL. Motion sickness adaptation: a neural missmatch model. J R Soc Med. 1978 ; 71(11): 819–829.
- Bonne L, Loaec E, Aupy B, Augowet G, Maffert A, Vaillant P-Y. Cinétose. EMC - Oto-rhino-laryngologie 2016; 12(1): 1-5 [Article 20-201-A-10].
- Golding J, Gresty M. Pathophysiology and treatment of motion sickness. Current Opinion in Neurology. 2015; 28(1): 83–88.
- Zhang LL, Wang JQ, Qi RR, et al. Motion Sickness: Current Knowledge and Recent Advance. CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics. 2016; 22: 15–24.
- Loddé B, Jegaden D, Dewitte JD, Misery L. Traité de Médecine Maritime. Lavoisier Médecine 2015.
- Trendel D, Haus-Cheymol R, Erauso T, et al. Optokinetic stimulation rehabilitation in preventing seasickness. Eur Ann Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Dis. 2010; 127(4): 125–129.
- Ressiot E, Dolz M, Bonne L, et al. Prospective study on the efficacy of optokinetic training in the treatment of seasickness. Eur Ann Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Dis. 2013; 130(5): 263–268.
- Maffert A, Aupy B. Optokinetic stimulation efficiency for sea sickness treatment. Int Marit Health. 2020; 71(4): 249–252.
- Guinard Civrac de Fabian MA. Intérêt de la simulation visuelle dans la rééducation de la naupathie. Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]. 2017. dumas.ccsd.cnrs.fr/dumas-01830569.
- O'Hanlon J, McCauley M. Motion sickness incidence as a function of the frequency and acceleration of vertical sinusoidal motion. Human Factors Research. Technical Report. 1973: 1733.
- Khalid H, Turan O, Bos J, et al. Application of the subjective vertical–horizontal-conflict physiological motion sickness model to the field trials of contemporary vessels. Ocean Engineering. 2011; 38(1): 22–33.
