Effects of acupuncture combined with meridian oxygen therapy on the balance function in convalescent stroke patients

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of acupuncture combined with meridian oxygen therapy on the balance function in convalescent stroke patients. Methods A total of 120 convalescent stroke patients who met the inclusion criteria were divided into 2 groups by random number table method, 60 patients in each group. The control group received conventional rehabilitation exercise, and the observation group received acupuncture combined with meridian oxygen therapy on the basis of the control group. Both groups were treated for 4 weeks. The Berg Balance Scale (BBS) was used to evaluate the patients' balance ability, and the therapeutic effect was evaluated according to the change of BBS score before and after treatment. Results The total effective rate was 95.0% (57/60) in the observation group and 78.3% (47/60) in the control group, which presented the statistically significant difference between the two groups (χ2=13.072, P<0.01). After 4 weeks treatment, the BBS score of the observation group (46.76 ± 10.82 vs. 38.41 ± 10.73, t=-2.575) was significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusions acupuncture combined with meridian oxygen therapy can obviously improve the balance and coordination ability of stroke convalescent patients and improve the quality of life of patients. Key words: Stroke; Convalescence; Press-needle; Meridian oxygen therapy; Balance function