Zhongguo Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi. 1995 Nov; 15(11): 646-8.

[Clinical observation on treatment of 40 cases of apoplexy hemiplegia complicated shoulder-hand syndrome with electro-acupuncture]

Guo ZX, Wang RS, Guo XC.

Anhui College of TCM, Hefei.

The authors treated 40 cases of shoulder-hand syndrome of apoplexy hemiplegia with electro-acupuncture (EA) and filiform needle acupuncture (FNA) respectively. The results showed that EA had better results in treating hand back swelling, hand skin temperature elevating and the bending finger caused pain than that with FNA (P < 0.05). The finger joint and shoulder joint improvement (the functional scoring increased for 3 points or more) in EA was also better than that of FNA (P < 0.05). The total marked effective rate was higher in EA group (75%) than that in FNA (50%), P < 0.05). It suggested that EA produced rhythmic muscle contraction which had a "shoulder-hand pump" like action, and is significant in eliminating hand back swelling and preventing atrophy of hand muscles.