Auditory feedback for walking difficulties in a case of unilateral neglect: A pilot study

Abstract

A 29-year-old woman with left sensory neglect, visual neglect, and frontal lobe difficulties presented problems in physiotherapy because she walked with her left foot heel-up in a highly unstable plantarflex position. She completely failed to learn to lower her heel on walking, which as a result could have led to an eversion injury, despite the fact that she could lower her heel to the floor on command. A pressure-sensitive switch attached to a buzzer on her belt was inserted under her left heel, and a walking programme instituted, with time of heel contact during a 4-rn walking test being gradually increased through a process of charting progress and setting goals. Improvements in her walking were charted and appeared to generalise to everyday life.

Effects of standing and walking training using a laser pointer based on stimulus-driven attention for behavioural outcome in spatial neglect: A single-case study

“…To date, there are few reports of walking training for USN patients. Robertson and Cashman (1991) performed walking exercise using auditory feedback in order to make the paretic lower limbs aware for patients with USN with foot drop, and reported that patients became more focused on the paretic lower limb during walking. However, this study did not focus on visuospatial cognition.…”

Can Tactile Neglect Occur at an Intra-Limb Level? Vibrotactile Reaction Times in Patients with Right Hemisphere Damage

“…From a clinical perspective, the last of these, tactile neglect, may be the most salient manifestation of a lateralized attentional impairment, since a lack of awareness of tactile stimuli on the contralesional side may hinder rehabilitative interventions based on body awareness (e.g. Robertson and Cashman, 1991). On the other hand, directing patients' attention to the affected side may reduce the extent of tactile neglect (Weiskrantz and Zhang, 1987).…”