Effects of Mirror Therapy combined with ‘Tong Du Xing Shen’ Acupuncture Therapy on Function Recovery of Upper Limbs after Stroke

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of mirror therapy (MT) combined with ‘Tong Du Xing Shen’ acupuncture method on functional recovery of upper limbs for stroke patients. Methods Sixty patients with upper extremity motor dysfunction after stroke were selected and divided by random into mirror (n=20), acupuncture (n=20) and combination group (n=20). Patients in mirror group received MT treatment, patients in acupuncture group received ‘Tong Du Xing Shen’ acupuncture therapy treatment and those in combination group received MT treatment and at the same time were supplemented by ‘Tong Du Xing Shen’ acupuncture treatments. Treatments lasted for four weeks. The three groups of patients were assessed before the treatment and after that for 2 weeks, 4 weeks. Assessment content included Fugl-Meyer motor function (FMA) of upper limbs, Brunnstrom upper limb and hand staging, Barthel index (BI), and hemiplegia dorsal wrist active range of joint activities (AROM). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) examinations were conducted for 6 cases in combination group before rehabilitation treatment and after 4 weeks of the treatment. Results After 2 weeks and 4 weeks of the treatments, the upper limb motor function FMA score, Brunnstrom upper limb and hand staging, and hemiparalysis of the dorsal wrist AROM as well as BI of the patients in three groups were all improved comparing with their scores before the treatments. Conclusions Mirror therapy combined with the ‘Tong Du Xing Shen’ acupuncture can better improve patients’ motor function of upper limbs, which could effectively improve the patients’ daily living abilities.