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To investigate whether onset\/duration and type of VI influence neck and balance complaints in visually impaired patients. Exploratory cross-sectional study of 80 participants (median age 58 years; 43 women, 37 men). Outcomes included neck pain (NRS), neck disability (NDI), cervical motor control, fear of falling (FES-I), balance (FABS), and vision-related quality of life (NEI VFQ-25\u00a0C). Associations were analyzed by VI duration (Group I\u2009&lt;\u20091 year; Group II\u2009&gt;\u20093 years; Group III 1\u20133 years) and VI type (unilateral; unilateral blindness; bilateral; bilateral blindness; other; not classifiable). Neck pain was reported by 71.3% (NRSmean 4.6\/10, SD 1.7 (median: 4.0 (IQR: 2.0\u20137.0)); NDI 13.5\/50, SD 6.0). Participants performed a mean of 2.3\/4 motor control tests incorrectly (SD 1.1). Fear of falling was moderate (FES-I 24.8\/64, SD 7.7), balance performance was below age average (FABS 33.2\/40, SD 3.6), and NEI VFQ-25\u00a0C averaged 0.65 logits (SD 1.91). Higher fear of falling was associated with longer-lasting VI (f\u2009=\u20090.31; \u03c7\u00b2 = 8.94;\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009=\u2009.01) and with more severe VI types (f\u2009=\u20090.41; \u03c7\u00b2 = 10.82;\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u2009=\u2009.03). This assessment captures frequent neck pain, impaired cervical motor control, increased Fear of Falling and non-age appropriate Balance in this population. Findings show greater Fear of Falling with longer lasting VI-Symptoms and increasing VI severity, ranging from visual impairment to blindness and from unilateral to bilateral involvement.\n                    <jats:italic>Trial registration<\/jats:italic>\n                    German Clinical Trials Registration-Number: DRKS00035125, registered on 30.09.2024.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-026-58352-x","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,16]],"date-time":"2026-06-16T18:33:52Z","timestamp":1781634832000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Neck- and balance related complaints in subjects with visual impairment and ongoing inpatient-rehabilitation: an exploratory cross-sectional study"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Bernd","family":"Brechtelsbauer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Oliver","family":"Kolbe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dino","family":"Capovilla","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kathleen S.","family":"Kunert","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"58352_CR1","unstructured":"Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis). Qualit\u00e4tsbericht - Statistik der schwerbehinderten Menschen 2023. (2025). https:\/\/www.destatis.de\/DE\/Themen\/Gesellschaft-Umwelt\/Gesundheit\/Behinderte-Menschen\/Publikationen\/Downloads-Behinderte-Menschen\/statistischer-bericht-schwerbehinderte-2130510239005.html"},{"key":"58352_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1656","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apmr.2014.05.013","volume":"95","author":"L-O Lundqvist","year":"2014","unstructured":"Lundqvist, L-O., Zetterlund, C. & Richter, H. O. Effects of Feldenkrais method on chronic neck\/scapular pain in people with visual impairment: a randomized controlled trial with one-year follow-up. Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 95, 1656\u20131661. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.apmr.2014.05.013 (2014).","journal-title":"Arch. Phys. Med. 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Written informed consent to participate was obtained from all participants.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"Not applicable. This manuscript does not contain any individual person\u2019s data in any form (including individual details, images, or videos).","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}},{"value":"The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. The authors declare the following financial interests\/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:","order":5,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Conflict of interest"}},{"value":"During the preparation of this work the author(s) used ChatGPT 5 and Perplexity to improve English language. After using this tool\/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the publication.","order":6,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process"}}],"article-number":"18713"}}