Bell's Palsy

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Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Cohort Study

Acupuncture intervention within 7 days of onset of Bell's palsy could shorten the time to recovery and improve the outcome at 12 and 24 weeks.

2022 Frontiers in Neurology Early intervention with acupuncture improves the outcome of patients with Bell's palsy: A propensity score-matching analysis
Yang LS, Zhou DF, Zheng SZ, Zhao BM, Li HG, Chen QQ, Zhong Y, Yang HZ, Zhang K, Tang CZ

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Review Article

Acupuncture has shown to be potentially beneficial as an alternate or adjunct therapy for patients with Bell's palsy following recovery from COVID-19.

2022 Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medical Research Can Acupuncture be an Adjunct Therapy for Bell’s palsy Post COVID-19? Acupuncture for Bell’s Palsy: A Review
Yepthomi T, Somanadhapai S

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

Acupuncture seems to be superior to drug therapy in the treatment of Bell's palsy including cure rate and total effective rate.

2019 Medicine Compare the efficacy of acupuncture with drugs in the treatment of Bell's palsy
Zhang R, Wu T, Wang R, Wang D, Liu Q

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

The majority of trials demonstrate a positive effect of acupuncture over control condition in the treatment of neuropathy.

2015 Neurology Effects of Acupuncture on Neuropathic Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Alexandra Dimitrova, Charles Murchison, Barry Oken

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

Acupuncture proves to be a promising alternative therapy for treating Bell's palsy, despite some controversy surrounding its use.

2015 PLOS One Efficacy of Acupuncture for Bell’s Palsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Li, P., Qiu, T., & Qin, C.

Executive Summary

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A Cohort Study published in 2022 in the journal Frontiers in Neurology found that Acupuncture intervention within 7 days of onset of Bell's palsy could shorten the time to recovery and improve the outcome at 12 and 24 weeks. A total of 345 patients were eligible for this study and were divided into the manual acupuncture/electroacupuncture (MA/EA) group (n = 76) and the EA group (n = 125). In the propensity score-matched cohort, the time to complete recovery was significantly shorter in the MA/EA group compared with the patients in the EA group. The MA/EA group had a higher rate of favorable outcomes at 12 weeks than the EA group, and the occurrence of sequelae at 24 weeks showed a greater reducing trend in the MA/EA group than the EA group.

A Review Article published in 2022 in the journal Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medical Research found that Acupuncture has shown to be potentially beneficial as an alternate or adjunct therapy for patients with Bell's palsy following recovery from COVID-19. In the methodology utilized for this research, an extensive literature search was carried out by two independent investigators. They used multiple sources including PubMed, MEDLINE, Google scholar, LILACS, and the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials, from the year 2000 up until 2021. They used the keywords: Bell’s Palsy, covid-19, acupuncture, Mucormycosis, vaccine, and steroids. Selected articles were only those published in English and included full-text. The studies included in the review were all randomized controlled trials which compared acupuncture intervention's clinical effects (used alone or add on) with no treatment. In terms of results, although the methodological quality of most studies was considered generally low, six randomized controlled trials were found to be satisfactory and included in the study. According to the results across these studies, the groups who received acupuncture treatment reported improved outcomes compared to their baseline or control groups. This was evident as no negative side effects were reported. The review therefore indicates that acupuncture could play a beneficial role in treating patients with Bell's palsy post-recovery from COVID-19, particularly those at risk of mucormycosis and other severe health complications.

A Systematic Review published in 2019 in the journal Medicine found that Acupuncture seems to be superior to drug therapy in the treatment of Bell's palsy including cure rate and total effective rate. Despite the poor quality of the included studies, our meta-analysis further confirmed the results of previous researches. Despite the high risk of bias and heterogeneity, acupuncture seems to be superior to drug therapy in the treatment of Bell's palsy including cure rate and total effective rate, which may be an effective method of treating Bell's palsy. When treating patients with facial paralysis, Acupuncture can be seen as one of the effective and operational treatment options. However, due to the existence of methodological flaws and potential bias risk in the included studies, more high-quality and large-sample RCTs are needed. Therefore, please carefully refer to the research conclusions of this meta-analysis.

A Systematic Review published in 2015 in the journal Neurology found that The majority of trials demonstrate a positive effect of acupuncture over control condition in the treatment of neuropathy. The majority of RCTs reviewed showed clear benefit for acupuncture over control in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy, Bell’s palsy and carpal tunnel syndrome. Acupuncture is probably effective in the treatment of HIV-related neuropathy and there is insufficient evidence for its benefits in idiopathic neuropathy. Meta-analyses of all diabetic neuropathy and bell’s palsy data using a summary estimate random effects model showed combined Odds Ratio (OR) of 4.23, p<0.001 favoring acupuncture over control for pain outcomes. The majority of trials demonstrate a positive effect of acupuncture over control condition in the treatment of neuropathy. Further more rigorously designed studies are needed to better characterize this effect.

A Systematic Review published in 2015 in the journal PLOS One found that 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.

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