Electroacupuncture may help motor recovery in chronic stroke survivors

[Celebration]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18712644?ordinalpos=7&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

This study compared upper-limb motor functional improvement in chronic stroke survivors who received a combination of acupuncture and strength training with that of subjects who received strength training alone. A total of 10 chronic stroke patients with moderate or severe wrist muscle spasticity were recruited for this study. The study used a crossover design with a random order of either combined electroacupuncture and strength training or strength training alone. Each subject received one of the two types of treatment twice a week for the first 6 weeks and switched to the other for another 6 weeks. Quantitative measurements of wrist spasticity, active wrist extension range of motion, isometric wrist strength, and clinical evaluation with Fugl-Meyer (FM) upper-limb motor scores were conducted before and after either treatment. After the combined treatment, the quantitative spasticity level, active wrist extension range of motion (increased by a mean of 16.3 degrees), and FM upper-limb motor score (increased by a mean of 4.9 points) changed significantly (p < 0.01) but no significant changes were noted in isometric wrist strength. The strength training alone resulted in no significant changes to any measured variable. The results of the current study indicate that the combined acupuncture and strength training treatment reduced muscle spasticity and may have improved motor function for chronic stroke survivors with moderate or severe muscle spasticity.

Electroacupuncture feels great, too.

[On the Road]

1. Never Had the Electric Kind

but acupuncture helped me recover from a pinched nerve that made me unable to lift my wrist. It does feel great, too -- like being reborn.

[greenman3610]

2. used it for carpal tunnel, works great

[Warpy]

3. Acupuncture alone doesn't work

I was involved in one study at a Boston hospital in the 80s where volunteer stroke patients underwent acupuncture with and without moxibustion to measure possible improvement.

Unfortunately, the acupuncture provided no improvement in function, although it did provide some of the patients with an increase in well being as it numbed some of the discomfort from disuse phenomena.

That it would make a difference with strength training comes as no surprise as it likely contributed to an increase in exercise tolerance.