STUDY PROTOCOL article
Front. Med.
Sec. Family Medicine and Primary Care
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1615762
Efficacy of Acupuncture on Upper Limb Dysfunction After Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol with Surface Electromyography Evaluation
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Rehabilitation, Shenzhen Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
- 2South China Research Center for Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Medical College of Acu-Moxi and Rehabilitation, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
- 3Shenzhen Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen, China
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Background: Upper extremity functional reconstruction remains a major clinical challenge in post-stroke neurorehabilitation. Acupuncture has unique advantages as a complementary alternative therapy. Thus, in this study, we aim to compare sham acupuncture to reveal the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of upper limb dysfunction post-stroke with surface electromyography (sEMG), a validated objective assessment tool, and a subjective index.In this prospective, principal-investigator-blinded randomized controlled trial, 74 patients who meet the inclusion criteria are randomly assigned to the acupuncture and sham acupuncture groups in a 1:1 ratio using a central randomization system. The patients receive the same routine basic treatment. The core acupoints selected in the acupuncture group are GV20 (Bai hui), DU14 (Da zhui), and LI11 (Qu chi). Six non-meridian acupuncture points are selected for the sham acupuncture group. The treatment cycle lasts for 4 weeks, five times per week, for 20 treatments.The Fugl-Meyer Upper Limb Assessment scale score is used as the main outcome.Secondary outcomes include the Motor Status Scale, Action Research Arm Test, Motor Assessment Scale, Self-rating Anxiety Scale, and Self-rating Depression Scale scores. Simultaneously using sEMG as an auxiliary efficacy indicator.This study assesses the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for post-stroke upper limb impairment in multiple aspects and elucidates the underlying neuromuscular effect mechanism of acupuncture to provide clinical evidence.
Keywords: Acupuncture, upper limb dysfunction, randomized controlled trial, Stroke, neuromuscular effect International Traditional Medicine Clinical Trials Registry. Registration No. ITMCTR2025000228. November 27, 2024. The study was approved
Received: 21 Apr 2025; Accepted: 24 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Guo, Zhang, Lin, Tang, Gao, Cui and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Shaoyang Cui, Shenzhen Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen, 518033, China
Nenggui Xu, South China Research Center for Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Medical College of Acu-Moxi and Rehabilitation, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
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