Original articles

Effects of anterior sciatic nerve acupuncture on lower limb paralysis after cerebral infarction: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

  • Menghan LI ,
  • Yu WANG ,
  • Dawei RAN ,
  • Xinming YANG ,
  • Shizhe DENG ,
  • Lei SHI ,
  • Zhihong MENG
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  • 1 Department of Acupuncture, First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; National Clinical Research Center for Chinese Medicine Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Tianjin 300193, China; Graduate department, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, China
    2 Department of Massage and Rehabilitation, Second Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300250, China
    3 Department of Acupuncture, First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; National Clinical Research Center for Chinese Medicine Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Tianjin 300193, China

Received date: 2022-06-11

  Accepted date: 2022-10-16

  Online published: 2023-12-30

Supported by

National Key Research and Development Program of China: Evidence Based Study on the Treatment of Post Stroke Motor Aphasia with the Rehabilitation Plan of “Xing Nao Kai Qiao”(2018YFC1706001)

Abstract

Stroke is the main cause of disability in the middle and old age. Hemiplegia, especially lower limb paralysis, often leads to the loss of self-care ability and a series of secondary injuries. The main method to improve hemiplegic limb movement is exercise therapy, but there are still many patients with disabilities after rehabilitation treatment. As one of the non-pharmacological therapies for stroke, acupuncture has been recognized to improve motor function in patients. Here, we propose a new method, anterior sciatic nerve acupuncture, which can stimulate both the femoral nerve and the sciatic nerve. We designed this study to determine the effect of this method on lower limb motor function. Sixty participants recruited with hemiplegia after cerebral infarction will be randomly assigned to the test group or control group in a 1:1 ratio. The control group will receive Xingnao Kaiqiao acupuncture, and the test group will receive anterior sciatic nerve acupuncture on this basis. All participants will get acupuncture treatment once a day, 6 times a week for 2 weeks. The primary outcome is Fugl-Meyer Assessment of Lower Extremity and the secondary outcomes are Modified Ashworth Scale and Modified Barthel Index. Data will be collected before treatment, 1 week after treatment, and 2 weeks after treatment, and then statistical analysis will be performed. This study can preliminarily verify the effect of anterior sciatic nerve acupuncture on improving lower limb motor function in patients with cerebral infarction, which may provide an alternative approach for clinical treatment of hemiplegia.

Cite this article

Menghan LI , Yu WANG , Dawei RAN , Xinming YANG , Shizhe DENG , Lei SHI , Zhihong MENG . Effects of anterior sciatic nerve acupuncture on lower limb paralysis after cerebral infarction: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial[J]. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2024 , 44(1) : 205 -211 . DOI: 10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2024.01.001

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