Effect of constraint-induced movement therapy with modified opposition restriction orthosis in chronic hemiparetic patients with stroke

Abstract

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. 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. 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. This new MORO would be effective for use in a CIMT program in chronic hemiparetic patients with stroke.