A one-year follow-up after modified constraint-induced movement therapy for acute stroke patients with a paretic arm:

A case series study

Abstract

In Japan, there are no long-term follow-up studies of CI therapy of stroke patients in the acute phase. This study conducted a long-term follow-up study of several subjects in the acute phase who received modified CI therapy for 2 hours or less per day up to 1 year after the intervention and observed the progress of recovery of the paralyzed upper limb. Results showed significant differences in both FMA and MAL in the fixed effects at post-intervention and 1-year post-intervention. MAL showed changes that exceeded MCID in both the short- and long-term. Furthermore, long-term improvement in FMA was strongly associated with MAL. This study suggests that even in the acute phase, modified CI therapy may have favorable long-term changes in upper limb function and paralytic hand use behavior in some patients.