Affected upper-extremity movement ability is retained 3 months after modified constraint-induced therapy.

The practicality and patient compliance of constraint-induced movement therapy limit its application in many clinical environments. For more than a decade, the principal investigator's laboratory has shown efficacy of an outpatient, modified constraint-induced therapy (mCIT). The current study examined whether participants administered mCIT retained motor changes 3 mo after intervention. The upper-extremity section of the Fugl-Meyer Impairment Scale (FM) and the Action Research Arm Test (ARA) were administered directly after mCIT intervention. Thirteen patients poststroke were tracked prospectively from directly after intervention concluded to 3 mo after intervention, at which time the FM and ARA were readministered. Three months after intervention, 25 of the 26 scores on the FM and ARA increased between the time after intervention and 3 months after intervention, reflecting continued increases in affected extremity movement ability. It is believed that the continued motor changes were caused by the comparatively larger number of extremity-use opportunities during the 10-wk mCIT intervention period. These opportunities encourage habitual extremity use even after the intervention period has concluded, leading to the changes observed.