Spasticity

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Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

Acupuncture added to conventional rehabilitation has been found more effective in reducing post-stroke spasticity than conventional rehabilitation alone.

2022 Frontiers in Neurology Effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for post-stroke spasticity: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Xue C, Jiang C, Zhu Y, Liu X, Zhong D, Li Y, Zhang H, Tang W, She J, Xie C, Li J, Feng Y, Jin R

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

Acupuncture combined with rehabilitation was more effective in improving the motor function and the ability of daily living.

2021 Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Acupuncture plus Rehabilitation for Unilateral Neglect after Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Hou, Y., Liu, Y., Li, M., Ning, B., Wen, Z., & Fu, W.

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

Electroacupuncture combined with conventional routine care has the potential of reducing spasticity in the upper and lower limbs and improving overall and lower extremity motor function and activities of daily living for patients with spasticity, within 180 days poststroke.

2017 Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Electroacupuncture for Poststroke Spasticity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Cai Y, Zhang CS, Liu S, Wen Z, Zhang AL, Guo X, Lu C, Xue CC

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

Acupuncture may have beneficial effects on improving dependency, global neurological deficiency, and some specific neurological impairments for people with stroke in the convalescent stage, with no obvious serious adverse events.

2016 Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews Acupuncture for stroke rehabilitation
Yang A, Wu HM, Tang JL, Xu L, Yang M, Liu GJ.

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

Acupuncture combined with exercise is effective for shoulder pain after stroke.

2012 The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine Acupuncture for Shoulder Pain After Stroke: A Systematic Review
Jung Ah Lee, Si-Woon Park, Pil Woo Hwang, Sung Min Lim, Sejeong Kook, Kyung In Choi, and Kyoung Sook Kang.

Executive Summary

Write an executive summary in the form of a blog article on the topic of "Research into Chinese medicine treatment for Spasticity" summarising the research below and using language that can be easily understood by patients and avoiding medical jargon using a professional and caring tone of voice.

Write an executive summary in the form of a blog article on the topic of "Researched Chinese medicine treatments for Spasticity" summarising the research below in an objective and easy to understand way, and using language that can be easily understood by patients. Group the article into Chinese medicine treatments first, followed by nutrition and other treatments. Avoid using medical jargon and use a professional and caring tone of voice.

Write me a concise but easy to understand executive summary on the topic of "Chinese medicine treatments for Spasticity" based on the following research that I will give you. Your summary should be 2 paragraphs long in Australian English spelling and include references to the studies.

A Systematic Review published in 2022 in the journal Frontiers in Neurology found that Acupuncture added to conventional rehabilitation has been found more effective in reducing post-stroke spasticity than conventional rehabilitation alone. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, a charge was led to determine the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for post-stroke spasticity. A comprehensive search across nine electronic databases was carried out up to June 2022. Identification was focused on randomized-controlled trials that scrutinized the potency and safety garnered from acupuncture for post-stroke spasticity. An independent screening of studies was initiated by two reviewers who also took charge of data extraction and bias risk assessment. Software tools were employed for statistical analysis of data. Out of the search, 88 studies deemed eligible were included amounting to a total of 6,431 participants. Pooled data illustrated that there was a beneficial effect when combining acupuncture and conventional rehabilitation, surpassing the results obtained from conventional rehabilitation alone. Subgroup analysis underscored that acquiring acupuncture either once or twice a day had superior results than conventional rehabilitation. The antispasmodic effect seemed to improve with more treatment sessions. A small number of studies explicitly pointed out slight adverse events related to acupuncture.

A Systematic Review published in 2021 in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that Acupuncture combined with rehabilitation was more effective in improving the motor function and the ability of daily living. The mechanism for the effects of acupuncture in the improvement of motor function and activity of daily life may be explained by two reasons. First, acupuncture can directly enhance the motor function and daily life of stroke patients. Acupuncture has been shown to lead to a higher improvement in motor function than conventional treatment. Acupuncture when combined with rehabilitation may have a positive effect on motor function, activity of daily life, neurological deficits, and spasticity. Indeed, the meta-analysis concluded that no matter what kind of acupuncture therapy was combined with rehabilitation, it was better than the rehabilitation group when it came to significantly improving the activity of daily life of patients after ischaemic stroke. Second, acupuncture may indirectly improve the motor function and daily living ability of stroke patients by improving the symptoms of unilateral neglect and making them aware of their limbs. Acupuncture points may be the more intensive parts of the sensory organs that produce needle sensation. Acupuncture sensation is continuously transmitted to the central nervous system through the peripheral receptors of acupuncture point of contact, which facilitates new cognitive neural pathways for effective information, processing, and analysis, which may be one of the mechanisms for improving the perception of an injured hemisphere and alleviating the symptoms of unilateral neglect in patients.

A Systematic Review published in 2017 in the journal Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that Electroacupuncture combined with conventional routine care has the potential of reducing spasticity in the upper and lower limbs and improving overall and lower extremity motor function and activities of daily living for patients with spasticity, within 180 days poststroke. EA combined with conventional routine care has the potential of reducing spasticity in the upper and lower limbs and improving overall and lower extremity motor function and activities of daily living for patients with spasticity, within 180 days poststroke. Further studies of high methodological and reporting quality are needed to confirm the effects and safety of EA, and to explore the adequate and optimal protocol of EA for poststroke spasticity, incorporating a group of comprehensive outcome measures in different populations.

A Systematic Review published in 2016 in the journal Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews found that Acupuncture may have beneficial effects on improving dependency, global neurological deficiency, and some specific neurological impairments for people with stroke in the convalescent stage, with no obvious serious adverse events. Although acupuncture may have positive effects in stroke rehabilitation and there were no reported serious adverse events, the small number of low quality studies and the probability of publication bias means that there was insufficient evidence to support the routine use of acupuncture for people with subacute or chronic stroke.

A Systematic Review published in 2012 in the journal The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that Acupuncture combined with exercise is effective for shoulder pain after stroke. It was found in this review of reported RCTs that acupuncture is an effective treatment for shoulder pain after stroke. Acupuncture can be considered as an adjuvant therapy in combination with exercise for rehabilitation of the stroke patients who are suffering from shoulder pain. Further trials concerning this topic should be conducted according to the highest methodological standards for certainty.

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