Modified Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy Versus Intensive Bimanual Training

Clinical Rehabilitation published research on 47 children with unilateral cerebral palsy or other non-progressive hemiplegia (aged 3.3–11.4 years) who were randomly assigned to either a modified constraint-induced movement program (kid-CIMT - 60 hours of unilateral constraint-induced and 20 hours of bimanual training over four weeks) or intensive bimanual training (80 hours of bimanual training over four weeks). The following results were recorded: 

• modified constraint-induced therapy provided a significantly better outcome for isolated motor functions of the paretic arm than bimanual training 
• for spontaneous use of the paretic arm and hand in everyday life activities both methods led to similar improvement 
• more-disabled children showed greater improvement than less-disabled ones 
• age did not affect treatment outcome 

 
Reference: Wolfgang Deppe,Kerstin Thuemmler,Judith Fleischer,Claudia Berger,Susanne Meyer,and Baerbel Wiedemann. Modified constraint-induced movement therapy versus intensive bimanual training for children with hemiplegia – a randomized controlled trial Clin Rehabil October 2013 27: 909-920, first published on July 1, 2013 doi:10.1177/0269215513483764