Clinical psychologists and occupational therapists have a great deal to offer on this aspect of patient assessment. The ability to orientate the body in relationship to the space it occupies is an important factor in body image and movement and the patient needs to be able to interpret the different heights, depths and widths of structures. For example, patients with spatial perceptual difficulties may well roll off the bed onto the floor because they are unappreciative of the height relationship of the bed to the floor.
Patients with this sort of problem are not always understood by the physiotherapist, and are dubbed clumsy, careless and unintelligent by relatives and friends. Some patients may have difficulty in distinguishing between themselves and the furniture they are using, and many elderly patients, even without other obvious neurological symptoms, may try to climb out of a…
