Abstract
Purpose:
To investigate the effect of whole-body tilt exercise for treating hemispatial neglect and to identify the effects of incorporating mental practice into the exercise.
Methods:
We used a single-subject experimental design alternating with multiple baselines. Three stroke patients with hemispatial neglect participated in this study. The severity of hemispatial neglect and balance function were measured during baseline and intervention sessions. The whole-body tilt exercise was performed by using a device that allows the body to tilt 20° from the neutral upright position. Mental practice consisted of 5 min of relaxation, main whole-body tilt imagination, and normalization phases.
Results:
When the whole-body tilt exercise alone was performed, the average severity score of hemispatial neglect in subjects 1, 2, and 3 decreased by 7.54, 10.02, and 8.24, respectively; their respective average balance function score increased by 35.95%, 28.13%, and 15.33% under the open-eye condition and 34.66%, 20.33%, and 13.77% under the closed-eye condition. For subjects 1, 2, and 3, the respective average hemispatial neglect score decreased by 9.07, 11.35, and 10.13 after the whole-body tilt exercise with mental practice; their average balance function scores increased by 40.15%, 33.38%, and 24.22% under the open-eye condition and by 38.93%, 27.08%, and 11.88% under the closed-eye condition, respectively.
Conclusion:
These findings suggest that a whole-body tilt exercise alone may be beneficial in enhancing hemispatial neglect symptoms but the addition of mental practice produces a greater positive effect.