Constraint-induced (CI) therapy is a family of neurorehabilitation treatments that involve shaping and other behavioral procedures to substantially improve motor deficits produced by brain damage. Its main application has been to stroke patients, but the basic procedure has also been used with patients with traumatic brain injury and multiple sclerosis, and modified protocols have been used for patients with cerebral palsy and other motor deficits due to brain damage in pediatric patients (pediatric CI therapy), language in aphasia patients (CI Aphasia therapy-CIAT), focal hand dystonia and phantom limb pain. The efficacy of CI therapy for stroke patients has been established by a multi-site randomized clinical trial (JAMA, 2006; Lancet Neurol., 2008) and numerous single-site randomized controlled trials. It may be viewed as behavior analysis’ contribution to the field of neurorehabilitation.
Review Edward Taub’s biographical statement.