Post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome treated with acupuncture and rehabilitation:a randomized controlled trial

Objective To assess the clinical efficacy on post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome(SHS)treated with acupuncture and rehabilitation and the impacts on patients' nailfold microcirculation.Methods One hundred and twenty patients were randomized into an acupuncture rehabilitation group and a simple rehabilitation group,60cases in each one.In the simple rehabilitation group,OT(comprehensive rehabilitation therapy)training was adopted.In the acupuncture rehabilitation group,on the basis of the treatment as the simple rehabilitation,acupuncture was added at Taiyuan(LU 9),Zusanli(ST 36),Xuanzhong(GB 39),Waiguan(TE 5),Shousanli(LI 10),Quchi(LI 11)and Jianyu(LI 15).Acupuncture was given once a day,7days made one session.Totally,4sessions of treatment were required.Fugl-Meyer score,upper limb pain score,the score of nerve function defect and the items of nailfold microcirculation of patients were assessed in the the two groups before and after treatment.The efficacy was compared between the two groups.Results(1)The upper limb pain,the systematic motor function of the upper limbs,the nerve function defect,nailfold microcirculation and clinical symptoms were all improved after treatment in either the acupuncture rehabilitation group or the simple rehabilitation group as compared with those before treatment,indicating the significant difference(P0.05,P0.01).(2)The improvements in the upper limb pain(0.90±0.71vs 1.80±0.66),the systematic motor function of the upper limbs(42.43±13.57vs 29.98±15.11),the nerve function defect(8.60±1.61vs 13.0±1.74),nailfold microcirculation(total score 3.18±1.32vs 4.34±1.23)and clinical symptoms in the acupuncture rehabilitation group after treatment were different significantly as compared with those in the simple rehabilitation group(P0.05,P0.01),and the results in the acupuncture rehabilitation group were superior to the simple rehabilitation group.(3)In the acupuncture rehabilitation group,the markedly effective rate was 50.0%(30/60)and the total effective rate was93.3%(56/60),which was better than 16.7%(10/60)and 63.3%(38/60)respectively in the simple rehabilitation group(all P0.05).Conclusion Both the combined therapy of acupuncture and rehabilitation and the simple rehabilitation training are effective in the treatment of post-stroke SHS,and promote the status of nailfold microcirculation,the efficacy of the combined therapy is better than that of the latter.