ABSTRACT
Great Acupuncture is a special method to treat stroke patients on the relative health side, which reflects the whole view of the traditional Chinese medicine. With more and more clinical controlled trials reported recently, the origin, development and possible mechanisms of great acupuncture are worthy discussed for providing a neoteric method to treat cerebral apoplexy. The differences of great acupuncture and contralateral collateral needling were analyzed in this paper. Indications and attentions of great acupuncture were also summarized. Through comparing between the treatment of cerebral apoplexy by the great acupuncture and related techniques of the modern neurological rehabilitation, we found that the modern rehabilitation techniques focused on promoting the activities of the injured limbs, which might be much weaker in therapeutic intensity than great acupuncture. Therefore we believed that the concept of the great acupuncture of the traditional Chinese medicine is much advanced.