Postural abnormalities and contraversive pushing following right hemisphere brain damage

Abstract

We investigated the presence of postural abnormalities in a consecutive sample of stroke patients, with either left or right brain damage, in relation to their perceived body position in space. The presence or absence of posture-related symptoms was judged by two trained therapists and subsequently analysed by hierarchical classes analysis (HICLAS). The subject classes resulting from the HICLAS model were further validated with respect to posture-related measurements, such as centre of gravity position and head position, as well as measurements related to the postural body scheme, such as the perception of postural and visual verticality. The results of the classification analysis clearly demonstrated a relation between the presence of right brain damage and abnormalities in body geometry. The HICLAS model revealed three classes of subjects: The first class contained almost all the patients without neglect and without any signs of contraversive pushing. They were mainly characterised by a normal body axis in any position. The second class were all neglect patients but predominantly without any contraversive pushing. The third class contained right brain damaged patients, all showing neglect and mostly exhibiting contraversive pushing. The patients in the third class showed a clear resistance to bringing the weight over to the ipsilesional side when the therapist attempted to make the subject achieve a vertical posture across the midline. The clear correspondence between abnormalities of the observed body geometry and the tilt of the subjective postural and visual vertical suggests that a patient's postural body geometry is characterised by leaning towards the side of space where he/she feels aligned with an altered postural body scheme. The presence of contraversive pushing after right brain damage points in to a spatial higher-order processing deficit underlying the higher frequency and severity of the axial postural abnormalities found after right brain lesions.

Acknowledgments

This project has been funded by a Special Doctoral Grant of the Fund for Scientific Research (F.W.O.) - Flanders, Belgium.