Acupuncture for stroke

Abstract

Stroke is one of the most common cause of death especially for elderly people. The main symptom of stroke is weakness in one side of the body. During rehabilitation, patient may suffer some complications such as shoulder pain, insomnia, dysphagia, or muscle spasm. Acupuncture is widely used in china and east Asian countries for stroke rehabilitation. Many researchers studied the effect of acupuncture on stroke rehabilitation and complications prevention and treatment. Acupuncture showed positive effect on stroke rehabilitation combined with exercise. Acupuncture also showed effects on brain blood flow, dysphagia, insomnia, muscle spasticity and shoulder pain. The effect of acupuncture may vary based on what technique is used and practitioner experience. On this paper, the author reviewed many systemic reviews on the effect of acupuncture for stroke rehabilitation.