Rehabilitation and management of apraxia after stroke

Extract

Introduction

A stroke patient puts on his shoes and then tries to put on his socks over his shoes. Entering the kitchen, this patient puts milk in the teapot, places the sugar bowl in the oven, and tries to drink from the milk jug. This patient is most probably apractic. Apraxia is one of the four classical neuropsychological deficits – such as agnosia, amnesia and aphasia – causing restrictions in the ability to carry out purposeful and learned activities. One of the first definitions of apraxia was given by Geschwind: ‘Disorders of the execution of learned movements which cannot be accounted for by either weakness, inco-ordination, or sensory loss, nor by incomprehension of, or inattention to commands.’