A Case Study-Effect of Constraint Induced Movement Therapy in Brain Tumor

Constraint Induced Movement Therapy has been found to be a promising treatment for substantially improving the use of extremities affected by such neurologic injuries as stroke and traumatic brain injury in adults. The purpose of this study was to determine the applicability of a friendly form of CI Therapy on an adult with brain tumor.

A known case of right parietal anaplastic astrocytoma (grade III) undergone craniotomy+ excision under GA and radiotherapy presented again with deep and subcortical white matter edema in left fronto-parietal region, along with involvement of genu of corpus callosum and left internal capsule (left anaplastic astrocytoma) for which he again underwent stereotactic radio therapy. This left side involvement of brain led him to be a right sided hemiplegic. He was made to undergo 2 weeks of modified or friendly form of constraint induced movement therapy in which the patient wore the restraint (mitt) on unaffected hand (6 hrs in a day) whereas the affected hand was engaged in functional tasks for 2 hrs in a day. The pre-& post treatment assessment was done using fugl meyer assessment.

The patient was assessed pre-intervention, post intervention and at 3 months follow up with Fugl Meyer Assessment scale. The pre-intervention score of 36, post-intervention was 50 and that of follow up was 46.

Results suggest that the CI Therapy can improve motoric function among children with hemiparesis and that this efficacy is more with the use of restraint in a CIMT program.