Treatment of neglect: new therapy approaches

Neglect is a supramodal, clinically relevant disorder, which occurs in the different sensory modalities as well as in the mental representation. The different manifestations of neglect show interindividual and intraindividual variation. Different spatial and attention-related interventions lead to varying degrees of improvement in neglect symptoms but are often not stable in time or transferable to activities of daily living. Representational deficits or body-related aspects to modify personal neglect are rarely a priority in current therapies. Because of the multisensory and motor deficits from our point of view the future of neglect rehabilitation lies in a combined therapy of visual exploration, motor imagery with intensive motor therapy of motor sensory deficits and probably best reinforced by continued neck muscle vibration or allocation of attention to the neglected side.