Efficacy of functional training for treating traumatic facial nerve injury

Objective To investigate the efficacy of functional training for the patients with incomplete facial nerve palsy.Medthods Sixty-two patients with facial nerve injury caused by surgery were randomly divided into the treatment group and control group.Thirty-six cases received functional training as treatment group,the others served as control.The following indexes including quantitative facial nerve function estimation,electroneurography and visual assessment were observed.After one year of follow-up,the outcomes were analyzed.Results 1.Patients with minor facial nerve injury,the time of initial recovery(Ti) and the time of full recovery(Tf) had no difference between the two groups(P0.05).No sequelae were found in these cases. 2.Of moderate facial nerve injury,the Ti and Tf of treatment group were shorter than the control group(P0.05).One case appeared sequelae. 3.In severe facial nerve injury,the recovery rate of facial nerve function in the treatment group was higher than that of control group,and the sequelae were less.Conclusion It is indicated that functional training to minor facial nerve injury can't shorten the time of recovery,but it can accelerate the recovery and reduce the sequelae for moderate or severe facial nerve injury.