Embodied rehabilitation: when lokomat supported walking treatment and virtual reality spatial cognition meet

Topographical disorientation is a clinical syndrome characterized by the inability to find ones way in familiar surroundings and to learn new routes. In neuropsychology it is possible to rehabilitate this disorder with cognitive exercises that provide for the recovery of memory, attention and impaired abilities of executive functions. In general, even if physically navigating in space and reasoning on it can be considered as conceptually linked, cognitive and motor rehabilitation treatments are often provided separately. Contrariwise, introducing an embodied cognition approach, this study aims to investigate the role of motor rehabilitation in the recovery of cognitive spatial ability. We present a single case study of a single male patient admitted with a diagnosis of chronic stroke. In the study he was rehabilitated with Lokomat technology for walking while his cognitive ability in topographical orientation was evaluated before and after the physical training with a standard neuropsychology battery. Moreover, ongoing evaluations in virtual reality spatial tasks were conducted during the rehabilitation period. Data shows an improvement in cognitive performances both in standard tests and virtual ones. The patient, more than a physiotherapy improvement, shows a gradual recovery of its spatial skills. Those data gives insight about the efficacy of embodied approach to rehabilitation by showing how exclusively by rehabilitating the body, with the help of robotic technology, we can expect an improvement in terms of cognitive functioning.