Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of scalp acupuncture on recovery from motor disorders in stroke patients. Methods: Twenty-two patients with post-stroke hemiplegia were randomized into two groups. Ten patients (test group) were treated by 2 methods: scalp acupuncture and general acupuncture. The other twelve patients (control group) were treated only with general acupuncture. The activity of daily living was measured with a National Institutes of Health stroke scale (NIHSS) and Modified Barthel Index (MBI). The therapy was performed once a day for 2 weeks. Results: In terms of NIHSS score, the test group showed statistically meaningful decrease after 2 weeks treatment, while the control group showed statistically meaningful decrease after 1 week (p<0.05). And in terms of score of MBI, the test group did not show statistically meaningful increase but the control group showed statistically meaningful increase after 1 week (p<0.05). There was no statistically meaningful difference after 1 and 2 weeks treatment between the groups. Conclusions: These results support that the test group has almost same the effectiveness compared with the control group in improvement of the activity of daily living of post-stroke hemiplegic patients.
