Therapeutic efficacy of acupuncture combined with neuromuscular joint facilitation in treatment of hemiplegic shoulder pain

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Stroke is a type of cerebrovascular disease with high prevalence, mortality, and onset of disability. As a neurodevelopmental therapy, neuromuscular joint facilitation (NJF) is widely used in the treatment of orthopedic and neurological disorders in the clinical practice. It is mainly used for central nervous system diseases or orthopedic diseases, movement disorders, and pain rehabilitation. According to related studies, NJF can also be used as a rehabilitation treatment in patients with hemiplegic shoulder pain (HSP). AIM: To investigate the clinical efficacy of acupuncture combined with NJF in patients with HSP. METHODS: Forty patients with HSP were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group. The treatment group was treated with acupuncture combined with NJF and the control group was treated with acupuncture alone. All patients were assessed by using the visual analogue scale (VAS), Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA), Barthel index (BI), and passive range of motion (PROM) before and after the training. All the clinical data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 statistical software. RESULTS: > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Both acupuncture alone and acupuncture combined with NJF in the treatment of HSP are effective, and can improve the clinical symptoms of patients. Acupuncture combined with NJF can improve the upper limb motor function, relieve pain, and increase joint mobility in patients with HSP. The combination therapy is better than acupuncture alone. However, there is no significant difference in improving the score of patients' self-care ability.