Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026
Event-related Potentials During Target-response Tasks to Study Cognitive Processes of Upper Limb Use in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy
Published on: January 11, 2016
Effects of constraint-induced therapy on hand function in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy
J Charles1, G Lavinder, A M Gordon
1Department of Biobehavioral Sciences, Teachers College (J.C., G.L., A.M.G.) and Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons (A.M.G.), Columbia University, New York, NY.
Purpose:
The effects of constraint-induced therapy on hand function of the involved upper extremity were examined in three children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy.
Methods:
In these case reports, the noninvolved upper extremities of the children were constrained six hours daily for 14 consecutive days. Hand function, strength, sensation, and fingertip force coordination were examined pre- and postintervention.
Results:
The results indicated that there was an improvement in hand function for two of the three children and an improvement in two-point discrimination threshold values for all children. While there was no consistent change in fingertip force coordination during precision grip across children, one child demonstrated a consistent decrease in duration of temporal phases of fingertip force coordination and two children demonstrated a reorganization of the grip-lift synergy of the involved hand.
Conclusion And Clinical Implications:
Improvement in hand function is not captured by any one measure. The effectiveness of this intervention is promising but may be dependent on the severity of the impairment.
