Abstract: Contracture and spasticity of ankle joints were major sources of disability in neurological impairment including stroke and cerebral palsy, etc. The manual stretching used in physical therapy might be laborious and time-consuming to the therapists and the outcome was dependent on the experience and the subjective "end feeling" of the therapists. A device was developed that could safely stretch the ankle joint to its extreme positions with quantitative control of the resistance torque and stretching velocity. Furthermore, it could satisfy a strong need for quantitative and objective measures of the impairment and rehabilitation outcome. This was just the meaning intelligent stretching referred to. This article described the origin of the concept of intelligent stretching and its definition, operational principle, and superiority and weakness, as well as its application in ankle joint spasticity and contracture in patients with stroke and cerebral palsy.

Key words: spasticity, contracture, intelligent stretching, review