Aligned Acupuncture at Muscle Regions plus Cutaneous Needle for Upper Limb Spasticity After Stroke: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of aligned acupuncture at the muscle regions plus cutaneous needle for post-stroke upper limb spasticity.Methods: By adopting a design of multicenter randomized controlled clinical trial, 488 patients with post-stroke upper limb spasticity were randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 244 in each group. In addition to rehabilitation training, the treatment group received aligned acupuncture at the muscle regions plus cutaneous needle therapy and the control group received conventional Western medicine. After successive 3-week treatments, the clinical efficacy, spasticity degree of the upper limb, joint function, and neurological defect degree were evaluated in the two groups. Results: The total effective rate was 93.4% in the treatment group versus 61.5% in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant(P < 0.05). The upper-limb spasticity degree, joint function, and neurological defect degree were improved significantly in both groups after intervention(P<0.05), and the improvements in the treatment group were more significant than those in the control group(P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conclusion: Aligned acupuncture at the muscle regions plus cutaneous needle therapy is effective in treating post-stroke upper limb spasticity.