Effects of different acupuncture methods combined with routine rehabilitation on gait of stroke patients

Table 1 Clinical data

	Gender (M/F)	Age (yr)	Affected side (left/right)	Height (cm)	Weight (kg)	Course (d)	Brunnstrom stage (III/IV)
Experimental group	8/8	50.00 ± 5.66	6/10	162.89 ± 7.55	65.78 ± 5.59	45.63 ± 8.09	4/12
Control group	8/8	52.13 ± 6.77	8/8	168.13 ± 14.04	66.25 ± 5.82	41.88 ± 5.54	4/12
P value	1.000	0.507	0.614	0.372	0.870	0.298	1.000

Except for gender, affected side, and Brunnstrom stage, the rest of the data are expressed as the mean ± standard deviation. M: Male; F: Female.

Table 2 Changes in step length, pace, and frequency before and after treatment

Parameter	Experimental group		Control group
	Before	After	Before	After
Step length (m)	0.30 ± 0.14	0.39 ± 0.11a,c	0.29 ± 0.08	0.33 ± 0.07a
Step frequency (step/min)	53.79 ± 7.45	98.02 ± 12.97b,d	55.01 ± 10.08	77.85 ± 11.15b
Step pace (m/s)	0.31 ± 0.15	0.46 ± 0.13a,c	0.30 ± 0.11	0.38 ± 0.10a

Comparison with before treatment: ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01; comparison with the control group: ^cP < 0.05, ^dP < 0.01.

Table 3 Changes in the lower limb joint angle and the displacement of center of mass before and after treatment

Parameter	Experimental group		Control group
	Before	After	Before	After
Ankle joint angle (°)	17.81 ± 4.50	25.42 ± 4.85b,c	18.83 ± 2.31	22.49 ± 3.38a
Knee joint angle (°)	34.72 ± 9.80	50.21 ± 14.34b,c	34.82 ± 10.20	42.29 ± 11.12a
Centre of gravity lateral displacement (left-right direction, cm)	13.35 ± 3.16	8.15 ± 2.31b,c	12.63 ± 2.87	9.97 ± 3.27a

Comparison with before treatment: ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01; comparison with the control group: ^cP < 0.05.

Table 4 Changes in the peak plantar pressure values (n)

Parameter	Experimental group		Control group
	Before	After	Before	After
1st phalange (AS)	41.25 ± 5.09	49.75 ± 5.80b,c	39.56 ± 5.78	43.75 ± 5.52a
1st phalange (HS)	59.88 ± 9.23	54.25 ± 6.50a	58.25 ± 6.46	53.63 ± 11.51
Anterior foot (AS)	442.89 ± 24.45	410.02 ± 26.72b,c	439.01 ± 31.04	429.89 ± 28.35
Anterior foot (HS)	496.78 ± 35.88	455.01 ± 31.77b,c	495.14 ± 34.69	472.64 ± 31.93a
Midfoot (AS)	102.63 ± 8.57	96.38 ± 11.83	105.38 ± 12.75	100.88 ± 10.66
Midfoot (HS)	125.50 ± 15.41	115.75 ± 16.37	129.13 ± 17.13	127.25 ± 16.46
Medial heel (AS)	160.38 ± 22.25	137.25 ± 13.38b,d	164.25 ± 16.83	153.13 ± 14.00a
Medial heel (HS)	184.88 ± 15.63	166.63 ± 14.38b,c	191.00 ± 20.29	178.63 ± 16.94a
Lateral heel (AS)	190.25 ± 16.57	168.63 ± 10.11b,d	196.88 ± 13.08	182.63 ± 14.29b
Lateral heel (HS)	226.25 ± 15.00	203.88 ± 13.38b,c	232.25 ± 13.83	222.50 ± 18.51

Comparison with before treatment: ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01; comparison with the control group: ^cP < 0.05, ^dP < 0.01. AS: Affected side; HS: Healthy side.

Table 5 Impulse changes in different foot regions (N· S)

Parameter	Experimental group		Control group
	Before	After	Before	After
1st phalange (AS)	13.41 ± 3.36	24.67 ± 6.27b,d	11.19 ± 5.11	14.68 ± 5.66a
1st phalange (HS)	34.85 ± 4.22	29.28 ± 4.04a	32.61 ± 5.04	27.80 ± 5.19
Anterior foot (AS)	222.54 ± 22.34	259.24 ± 24.02b,d	215.21 ± 23.80	239.07 ± 22.97a
Anterior foot (HS)	269.11 ± 27.88	235.20 ± 32.56b,d	282.45 ± 31.87	257.73 ± 30.21b
Midfoot (AS)	60.14 ± 15.49	72.08 ± 8.78	53.65 ± 14.52	60.31 ± 14.75
Midfoot (HS)	82.54 ± 10.97	77.51 ± 12.75	74.98 ± 13.64	73.64 ± 14.71
Medial heel (AS)	93.13 ± 10.16	85.08 ± 9.81b,c	100.44 ± 10.93	97.16 ± 12.31
Medial heel (HS)	113.30 ± 13.01	97.11 ± 14.51b,c	118.03 ± 10.86	110.34 ± 11.69a
Lateral heel (AS)	118.04 ± 11.29	108.55 ± 11.28b,c	122.51 ± 9.77	116.38 ± 8.49a
Lateral heel (HS)	134.64 ± 17.12	119.58 ± 15.90b,c	140.10 ± 14.48	130.36 ± 11.91a

Comparison with before treatment: ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01; comparison with the control group: ^cP < 0.05, ^dP < 0.01. AS: Affected side; HS: Healthy side.