Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine Integrated With Conventional Rehabilitation for Post-stroke Functional Recovery: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Abstract

BackgroundStroke leads to tremendous impacts on patients and the healthcare system. It is crucial to explore the potential management of rehabilitation. Acupuncture and traditional Chinese herbal medicine (TCHM) integrated with conventional rehabilitation benefit post-stroke functional recovery.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients included in the Integrated Traditional Chinese-Western Medicine care program for stroke (ITCWM-stroke care program) in 2019 in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital to investigate the effects of acupuncture and TCHM integrated with conventional rehabilitation on National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and Barthel Index (BI) scores before and after the program.ResultsA total of 255 stroke inpatients were retrieved and divided into acupuncture and acupuncture + TCHM group by hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke types, respectively. All the patients were recruited in the program at the early subacute phase after stroke onset. Of the hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke subjects, the NIHSS and BI total scores were significantly improved in the acupuncture and acupuncture + TCHM groups. The subgroup analysis results showed that in subjects with a baseline BI score ≤ 40, the acupuncture + TCHM group significantly improved BI total score better than the acupuncture group in both hemorrhagic (p < 0.05) and ischemic (p < 0.05) stroke subjects.ConclusionAcupuncture and TCHM integrated with conventional rehabilitation significantly improve stroke patients’ functional recovery at the early subacute phase. Acupuncture + TCHM contributes to better activities of daily living (ADL) improvements in stroke patients with a baseline BI score ≤ 40. We suggest integrating acupuncture and TCHM into the post-stroke rehabilitation strategy, especially for stroke patients with poor ADL function.

Application of Prescription Reviews for Traditional Chinese Medicine to Improve Medical Disputes and Patient Satisfaction

“…Relying on natural products, mainly of herbal origin, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is still widely accepted by Chinese people, and is widely used in the modern society for disease prevention, treatment, and health care for more than 3000 years, especially for chronical diseases [1,2]. As one of the major categories of complementary and alternative medicine with a general mild nature and long historical use [3][4][5], there are more and more increasing interest and investments in the scienti c research of TCM among medical and healthcare communities worldwide [6,7]. However, although some signi cant challenges of TCM have currently faced from both the application of modern medicine and social development, the clinical practice of TCM still accounts for about 20% of all health care delivered in China [8].…”

Analysis of medical service utilization for post-stroke sequelae in Korea between 2016 and 2018: a cross-sectional study

“…The use of these drugs may be associated with the high percentages of gastritis and duodenitis (K29) and gastro-esophageal reflux disease (K21) among the comorbidities. On the other hand, although phytotherapeutics and herbal medicines are not covered by the National Health Insurance in Korea and therefore could not be analyzed in this study, previous study shows that Chinese herbal medicine can be used and is effective in post-stroke functional recovery 67 . Further studies including clinical trials will help understand the effect of other types of phytotherapeutics in post-stroke sequelae.…”

The Effects of Adding Di-Tan Decoction (DTD) and/or Electroacupuncture (EA) to Standard Swallowing Rehabilitation Training (SRT) for Improving Poststroke Dysphagia (PSD): A Pilot, Single-Centred, Randomized Trial

“…On the other hand, Chinese medicinal decoctions have another effect on the symptoms of neurological disorders, such as tongue stiffness, sudden falling and loss of consciousness, convulsions, hot temper, aphasia, insomnia, dryness of the pharynx, and cough with sputum, which are similar to poststroke symptoms [ 8 , 10 ]. According to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory, qi deficiency, blood stasis, and phlegm dampness are the basic factors of stroke [ 37 ].…”

“…Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), including Chinese medicinal decoctions and acupuncture therapy, has been widely used in the management of a many diseases in East Asia and has been reported in many studies [7][8][9][10]. According to TCM theory, PSD is related mainly to meridian obstruction or phlegm dampness [11].…”