Acupuncture for Hemiplegic Shoulder Pain

Changhua Christian Medical Foundation

Status: Completed

Conditions: Shoulder Pain in Hemiplegic Side After Stroke

Treatments: Procedure: TENS; Procedure: sham acupuncture; Procedure: acupuncture

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01650207

CCH-110410

Details and patient eligibility

About

Shoulder pain has been reported to be one of the most common complications after stroke. Several factors have been related to shoulder pain after stroke such as paralysis, restricted range of motion in the shoulder, spasticity, sensory abnormalities, but the relationship between these factors and pain was not discussed.

The aim of this study is to identify the efficacy of electroacupuncture in reducing upper limbs spasticity and shoulder pain in stroke patients, and to evaluate the quality of life (QOL) for stroke patients.

Enrollment: 60 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Stroke within 6 months from onset
• Hemiplegia with shoulder pain (VAS > 2)

Exclusion criteria

• previous pathology of the shoulder or cardiac pacemaker, and cognition problems

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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60 participants in 3 patient groups

EA group

Experimental group

Description:

To acupuncture the Juanyu (Li15) \& Jugu (Li16) with sensation of de-qi, and then give 50 Hz electrical stimulation for 20 minutes.

Treatment:

Procedure: acupuncture

TENS group

Experimental group

Description:

The electrical patches were placed on the Juanyu (Li15) \& Jugu (Li16) or Juanyu (Li15), Quchi (Li11), Shousanli (Li10) \& Hegu (Li4), connected to a TENS apparatus and then give 50 Hz electrical stimulation for 20 minutes.

Treatment:

Procedure: TENS

sham-acupuncutre

Sham Comparator group

Description:

The Park's Sham Device were placed on the Juanyu (Li15) \& Jugu (Li16).

Treatment:

Procedure: sham acupuncture