Clinical Trials Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Dec 26, 2020; 8(24): 6282-6295
Published online Dec 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i24.6282
Effects of different acupuncture methods combined with routine rehabilitation on gait of stroke patients
Yan-Tao Lou, Jing-Jing Yang, Yu-Fei Ma, Xi-Cheng Zhen
Yan-Tao Lou, Xi-Cheng Zhen, Department of Human Sports Science, Shenyang Sport University, Shenyang 110102, Liaoning Province, China
Jing-Jing Yang, Department of Medical Nursing, Jiyuan Vocational and Technical College, Jiyuan 459000, Henan Province, China
Yu-Fei Ma, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Liaoning Thrombus Treatment Center of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Shenyang 110102, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: All authors made significant contributions to the research in this study, and approved the submitted version of the manuscript and the authorship list; Zhen XC and Lou YT contributed to data acquisition, interpretation, and analysis; Zhen XC contributed to writing of the manuscript; Lou YT contributed to critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; Yang JJ and Ma YF contributed to conception and design of the study, and critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; Yang JJ contributed to final approval of the submitted manuscript.
Supported by Research Scholarship of the Educational Department of Liaoning Province, No. LJC2019ST04.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Liaoning Thrombus Treatment Center of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine.
Clinical trial registration statement: This registration policy applies to prospective, randomized, controlled trials only.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xi-Cheng Zhen, MSc, Professor, Department of Human Sports Science, Shenyang Sport University, No. 36 Jinqian Songdong Road, Sujiatun District, Shenyang 110102, Liaoning Province, China. zhenxicheng@163.com
Received: September 1, 2020
Peer-review started: September 1, 2020
First decision: September 13, 2020
Revised: September 26, 2020
Accepted: October 20, 2020
Article in press: October 20, 2020
Published online: December 26, 2020
Processing time: 109 Days and 6.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Stroke refers to a group of cerebrovascular diseases associated with organic brain injury. It is characterized by the sudden and rapid onset of focal or diffuse dysfunction. In recent years, in addition to routine treatment, Chinese medicine acupuncture has been administered to patients with hemiplegia, and it can be considered a new treatment for rehabilitation.

AIM

To investigate the effects of eye acupuncture needle retention and body acupuncture combined with routine rehabilitation on gait performance and plantar pressure in patients recovering from stroke.

METHODS

Thirty-two stroke patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group, with 16 patients in each group. Both groups underwent routine rehabilitation. The experimental group was treated by eye acupuncture needle retention, and the control group was treated by body acupuncture. Before and after 4 wk of treatment, both groups underwent kinematic and plantar pressure synchronous tests to assess gait performance.

RESULTS

The step length, gait speed, step frequency, joint angles of the lower limbs, and ground reaction force impulse in the anterior region of the affected foot in both groups significantly increased from before to after treatment (P < 0.05); the center of mass displacement, peak pressure values, and impulse in the anterior region of the healthy foot and posterior regions of both the affected and healthy feet significantly decreased from before to after treatment (P < 0.05). The patients in the experimental group showed greater improvement in the following parameters than the control group: Step length, gait speed, step frequency, lower extremity joint angles, center of gravity displacement, and peak pressure values and impulse in the anterior and posterior regions of both the affected and healthy feet (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Eye acupuncture needle retention and body acupuncture combined with routine rehabilitation can effectively improve the gait performance of patients recovering from stroke. Between these two treatments, eye acupuncture needle retention combined with routine treatment is better than body acupuncture, and it can be considered a practical and effective clinical treatment.

Keywords: Stroke; Eye acupuncture; Body acupuncture; Gait performance; Spasm; Patients

Core Tip: Chinese medicine acupuncture has been administered to patients with hemiplegia, and it can be considered a new treatment for rehabilitation. Acupuncture for hemiplegia is broadly divided into eye acupuncture and conventional body acupuncture. However, the independent effects of eye acupuncture and body acupuncture on the gait performance of patients with stroke are still unclear. In the present study we report that eye acupuncture needle retention and body acupuncture combined with routine rehabilitation can effectively improve the gait performance of patients recovering from stroke.