Therapeutic effect of acupuncture combined with rehabilitation exercise in patients with shoulderª²hand syndrome

    CHANG Na, LIU Sen

    Department of Neurology, Huaihe Hospital, Henan University, Kaifeng 475000, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To investigate the effect of acupuncture combined with rehabilitation exercise on patients with shoulderª²hand syndrome (SHS). METHODS: Eighty cases with SHS were randomly divided into 2 groups: the control group treated only with rehabilitation exercise and the treatment group with both rehabilitation exercise and acupuncture. RESULTS: Compared with those before treatment, the conditions of the patients were significantly improved in many ways, such as Fuglª²Meyer grade, pain in shoulder joints, activity of shoulder joints and swelling of the hands (P<0.05). The Fuglª²Meyer grade of the treatment group was higher by 13 than that of the control group. Compared with data of control group, the scores of shoulder joint pain in treatment group reduced by 2~3, abduction on activity of shoulder joints increased by 54 and swelling of the hands reduced by 10 mL. Compared with those in the control group, the treatment group was significantly improved in all the conditions mentioned above (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture associated with rehabilitation exercise can relieve the pain in the shoulder and the swelling of the hand, improve the activity of the shoulder joints and the movement function of the upper limbs, so it is an effective method of treating SHS. ......