Acupuncture proves to be a promising alternative therapy for treating Bell's palsy, despite some controversy surrounding its use.
To assess the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating Bell’s palsy, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted using data from PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, without any language restrictions being imposed. Fourteen randomized controlled trials that compared acupuncture with other therapies for the treatment of Bell's palsy in adults and children were included. The participant pool for these trials comprised 1541 individuals.
In the results, acupuncture showed a significant positive correlation with higher effective response rates for Bell's palsy. However, a notable variance was observed among the different studies. Furthermore, a lack of complete data made it impossible to evaluate the incidence of complications. Despite this limitation, acupuncture emerged as an effective therapy for Bell's palsy. It must be emphasized that the results should be interpreted with caution due to concerns about the poor quality and heterogeneity of the included studies.
