Proprioceptive based training or modified constraint-induced movement therapy on upper extremity motor functions in chronic stroke patients: A randomized controlled study

BACKGROUND: The Modified Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (mCIMT) method is a unilateral training that respectively avoids and activates less affected and affected sides of upper extremities; however, the selected options are not typically ideal. Proprioceptive based training (PT) includes bilateral training methods and influencing proprioceptive receptors. OBJECTIVE: The primary purpose was to determine if conventional therapy and PT or conventional therapy and mCIMT therapy show similar improvement in patients with chronic stroke. The secondary purpose was to investigate the effectiveness of conventional therapy and PT or mCIMT therapy in patients with chronic stroke and to compare which of the two interventions is more effective. METHODS: Forty patients with chronic stroke were randomly allocated to only conventional therapy (PTR, n = 14), conventional therapy plus proprioception training (PTR-PT, n = 13), and mCIMT (PTR-mCIMT, n = 13) groups. Evaluations were assessed before and 6 weeks after treatment. RESULTS: Intragroup evaluations revealeda significant improvement in the all scores in the PTR-PT and PTR-mCMIT groups (p = 0.006 < 0.001). Intergroup comparisons demonstrated that the PTR-mCIMT group had a significant improvement in spasticity and motor function scores compared to the PTR (p < 0.001) and the PTR-PT groups (p = 0.006–0.015). CONCLUSIONS: PT and mCMIT applied in addition to conventional therapy in patients with chronic stroke were more effective than only conventional therapy. Additionally, mCMIT showed greater improvement in spasticity and motor function scales than PT.