Acupuncture Benefits Stroke Patients Finding

Your research proves no benefit from acupuncture. Since it is dual therapy and during spontaneous recovery, you can't tell which of the three items causes recovery. I'm betting on spontaneous recovery or placebo. Energy meridians have never been proven to exist.

http://www.healthcmi.com/Acupuncture-Continuing-Education-News/1868-acupuncture-benefits-stroke-patients-finding

Acupuncture benefits patients suffering from hemiplegia (unilateral paralysis) after a stroke. Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Baoji researchers compared daily exercise monotherapy with acupuncture plus daily exercises. Patient outcomes were consistently superior in the combined therapy group, demonstrating that the addition of acupuncture to the daily exercise treatment regimen improves clinical outcomes.(You mean the addition of a placebo improved outcomes) The researchers conclude that acupuncture plus rehabilitation exercises improves motor function and cerebral blood flow, making it an effective intervention for post-stroke hemiplegia. [1]

Objective and subjective data were the basis for the conclusions. Blood flow changes in the brain were measured with a transcranial Doppler device, a specialized ultrasound unit utilized for measuring blood flow velocity through cerebral blood vessels. This was used to monitor the movement of blood in the anterior, middle, and posterior cerebral arteries. Both groups showed marked improvements in blood flow following treatment, but improvements in the combined therapy group were significantly greater (p<0.05). The measurements demonstrate that the addition of acupuncture to the treatment protocol enhances recuperation within the human brain.

Subjective clinical observations for both groups were made using the Neurological Deficit Scale and the Fugl-Meyer Assessment. The Neurological Deficit Scale (NDS) is designed to measure neurological function following a stroke. The Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) is a scale specifically designed to measure post-stroke impairment based on categories including motor function, balance, sensation, and joint function. The results were divided into four categories:

• Cured (gt;90% improvement)
• Marked progress (46–90% improvement)
• Progress (18–45% improvement)
• No progress (<18% improvement)

Both groups showed improvements following treatment, but improvements in the combined therapy group were significantly greater (p<0.05). In the combined therapy group, 65.71% of patients fell within the cured category, compared with just 42.86% in the control group.

Design
A total of 70 patients with hemiplegia were recruited and a definitive diagnosis of cerebrovascular accident (stroke) was confirmed by means of CT and MRI scans. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups. Both groups received standard physical rehabilitation exercises and one group received acupuncture. Acupuncture was performed on the side of the body affected by hemiplegia. Points on the upper limb included LI11 (Quchi), LI4 (Hegu), LI10 (Shousanli), and SI3 (Houxi). Points on the lower limb included ST36 (Zusanli), GB30 (Huantiao), SP6 (Sanyinjiao), and LV3 (Taichong). Filiform needles 40–75mm in length were used to needle the points and were manually manipulated to obtain deqi. The needles were retained for 20 minutes per acupuncture session. Treatment was administered once daily, with 10 treatments comprising one course. A total of 10 courses of treatment were administered consecutively.

Rehabilitation therapeutic exercises mainly consisted of daily exercises to strengthen the muscles of the trunk and limbs. These included passive or assisted stretches and exercises for patients that were confined to their beds or had limited mobility. Ambulatory patients were also encouraged to walk and climb stairs, aided by a walking stick if necessary. Exercises were administered for 30 minutes daily, with 10 days comprising one course. A total of 10 courses of exercises were administered consecutively.

Limitations of the study include a relatively small sample size and the lack of an acupuncture monotherapy arm. A strength of the study design is the use of both subjective and objective instruments to measure outcomes. Based on the data, acupuncture benefits patients with post-stroke hemiplegia and is a reasonable treatment option.