The Functional Recovery and the Associated Cortical Reorganization Following Constraint-Induced Movement Therapies (CIMTs) in Stroke

Constraint-Induced Movement Therapies (CIMTs) including the original Constraint- Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT) and the Modified Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (mCIMT) gained considerable popularity as a treatment approach for upper extremity rehabilitation among patients with mild-to-moderate stroke. However, a major barrier in rehabilitation generally and in CIMTs specifically; is the limited objectivity of some commonly used outcome measures and lack sensitivity to define “True” recovery vs. compensation. Thereby, they may not sufficiently detect of long term consequences and the associated neurological recovery. An essential approach to overcome such barrier is to better understand functional motor recovery, associated neural changes and how they may relate to recovery of the pre-morbid movement pattern. Such Understanding for these relationships would add more in-depth insights on the functional relevance of plastic brain changes in stroke following CIMTs to optimize the field of neuro-rehabilitation. This review synthesizes findings from studies to on the use of the CIMTs including CIMT and mCIMT as efficient practice in the management of upper limb dysfunction following a stroke. The analysis will include (1) the functional recovery and (2) the cortical reorganization following the use of mCIMT and CIMT on patients in the chronic stage following stroke.