Comparison of the Effect of Modified Constraint Induced Movement Therapy in Sub-acute and Chronic Stroke Patients

Objective: To compare the application of modified CIMT in sub-acute and chronic stroke patients.Methods: Of thirty-six stroke patients, 18 patients were in the sub-acute and the other 18 were in thechronic stage of stroke. The improvement of functional movement of the paretic arm was evaluatedwith a modified Nine Hole Peg Test (NHPT), the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) and the MotorActivity-Amount of Use (MAL-AOU) questionnaire before and after treatment. A modified CIMTwas given 5 times a week, 1.5 hours per session for 2 weeks. A mitten should be used on theunaffected hand at home for at least 5 hours per day.Results: In both groups there is a better value of NHPT, ARAT and MAL-AOU after 2 weeks oftreatment. The improvement of NHPT and ARAT were greater in the chronic stage than in the subacutestage, while the MAL-AOU in the sub-acute stage is greater than in the chronic stage, butstatistically not significance ( p>0.05).Conclusion: This study showed that a modified CIMT could improve the paretic hand function ofstroke patients in both phases, but in the chronic phase it works better than in the sub-acute phase.Further studies with more samples are needed.