The cooking therapy for cognitive rehabilitation of cerebellar damage: A case report and a review of the literature

Background and importance The therapeutic approach for cerebellar damages heavily relies on neurorehabilitation since there are no medications that may improve clinical symptoms mainly those related to cognitive dysfunctions. Nevertheless, neurorehabilitation programs tailored to cerebellar damages have never been validated. Here we describe a new rehabilitation approach based on cooking training (CT). The idea that cooking may stimulate cerebellar activity relies on previous evidence demonstrating the beneficial effect on the executive functions as well as in promoting neural plasticity within the cerebellum. Indeed, CT requires motor/mental coordination, thinking flexibly, planning, implementing strategies, shifting and self-monitoring behaviors, all functions drastically affected in cerebellar disorders. Case description A 68-year-old male stroke patient with isolated right cerebellar ischemia in the posterior cerebellum characterized by mild executive dysfunctions. After intensive six weekly two-hour sessions, we found that CT was effective in improving some cognitive abilities in a context of mild motor impairment. In particular, deficits in the execution of the Symbol digit modality test and Wisconsin card-sorting test were recovered. Conclusion The comparison of our data with those reported in previous studies confirmed the Schmahmann’s hypothesis on the effectiveness of neurorehabilitation approaches in cerebellar patients acting as external timekeeping of conscious thoughts.