Effect of constraint-induced movement therapy with modified opposition restriction orthosis in chronic hemiparetic patients with stroke.
OBJECTIVE
Constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) has been demonstrated to be effective in improving hemiparetic upper extremity function in stroke patients, but few studies have been performed to assess orthosis modification. We investigated the effect of the newly designed small orthosis named modified opposition restriction orthosis (MORO) in chronic hemiparetic patients with stroke.


METHODS
Twenty-one stroke patients were randomly assigned to the CIMT group or control group. Thirteen patients in the CIMT group wore MORO confining the thumb and index finger for at least 5 hours of each day, 7 days a week for 8 weeks. The affected upper extremity function was evaluated using the manual function test (MFT), Purdue Pegboard (PP) score, and motor activity log (MAL) at pre and post-CIMT.


RESULTS
Four of the 13 patients in the CIMT group dropped out due to motivational problems, and 9 patients remained in the CIMT group at the end of the study. The patients in the CIMT group showed a mean improvement of 195.8% on MAL AOU (Amount of Use), 24.6% on PP score, and 5.5% on MFT.


CONCLUSIONS
This new MORO would be effective for use in a CIMT program in chronic hemiparetic patients with stroke.
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Taegu, Republic of Korea.
Dong Gyu
DG
Kim
Yun Woo
YW
Cho
Ji Heon
JH
Hong
Jun Chan
JC
Song
Hyun-Ae
HA
Chung
Dai-seg
DS
Bai
Chu-Hee
CH
Lee
Sung Ho
SH
Jang
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001132:Arm / Q000503:physiopathology; D001915:Braces; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000503:physiopathology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006429:Hemiplegia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000503:physiopathology; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D013933:Thumb / Q000503:physiopathology