OBJECTIVE: This study compared the effects of a distributed form of constraint-induced therapy with control intervention in motor recovery and brain reorganization after stroke. DESIGN: A two-group randomized controlled trial with pretreatment and posttreatment measures was conducted. Thirteen patients with stroke were randomly assigned to the distributed form of constraint-induced therapy (n = 5) or the control intervention group (n = 8). Outcome measures included the Fugl-Meyer Assessment, the Motor Activity Log, and functional magnetic resonance imaging examination. The number of activation voxels and laterality index were determined from the functional magnetic resonance imaging data for the study of brain reorganization. RESULTS: The distributed form of constraint-induced therapy group exhibited significantly greater improvements in the Fugl-Meyer Assessment and Motor Activity Log than the control intervention group. The functional magnetic resonance imaging data showed that distributed form of constraint-induced therapy significantly increased activation in the contralesional hemisphere during movement of the affected and unaffected hand. The control intervention group showed a decrease in primary sensorimotor cortex activation of the ipsilesional hemisphere during movement of the affected hand. CONCLUSIONS: The preliminary findings indicate that brain adaptation may be modulated by specific rehabilitation practices, although generalization of the functional magnetic resonance imaging findings is limited by sample size. Further research is needed to identify the specific neural correlates of the behavioral gains achieved after rehabilitation therapies.

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