Effects of long term Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy on patients after Stroke

Abstract

With the increasing of elderly population there is an expressive augmentation in chronic diseases, one of which is stroke. The injury causes, among its various disabilities, which hinders the mobilization of the upper and lower one hemisphere, reducing the functionality and quality of life of the person affected by stroke. The ConstraintInduced Movement Therapy is one of several kind of therapies used to reduce the disabilities that impair the functionality of the affected limb. This literature review of Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy, applied to the upper limb of hemiplegic individuals, for stroke, kept the long-term outcomes. Six articles that applied this therapy in its subjects were analyzed as well as observed for at least a month after the post-test. As a result, the authors identified that different types of assessments, were used which calculated the time to perform activities, the quantity and quality of use of affected upper Limb. The review showed that Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy tends to maintain its positive result, but with a few decreases in scores of the evaluations used without, however, be a regression of the initial score of the subjects in the pretest level.