Effect of Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy on Upper Extremity Function 3 to 9 Months After Stroke

To compare the effects of a 2-week multisite program of CIMT vs usual and customary care on improvement in upper extremity function among patients who had a first stroke within the previous 3 to 9 months. DESIGN AND SETTING: The Extremity Constraint Induced Therapy Evaluation (EXCITE) trial, a prospective, single-blind, randomized, multisite clinical trial conducted at 7 US academic institutions between January 2001 and January 2003.

Two hundred twenty-two individuals with predominantly ischemic stroke. INTERVENTIONS: Participants were assigned to receive either CIMT (n = 106; wearing a restraining mitt on the less-affected hand while engaging in repetitive task practice and behavioral shaping with the hemiplegic hand) or usual and customary care (n = 116; ranging from no treatment after concluding formal rehabilitation to pharmacologic or physiotherapeutic interventions); patients were stratified by sex, prestroke dominant side, side of stroke, and level of paretic arm function. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT), a measure of laboratory time and strength-based ability and quality of movement (functional ability), and the Motor Activity Log (MAL), a measure of how well and how often 30 common daily activities are performed.