Clinical observation of acupuncture plus Frenkel exercises for ataxia after cerebral stroke / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

ABSTRACT

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of mind-refreshing and balance-restoring needling method combined with Frenkel exercises in treating ataxia after cerebral stroke. Methods: The recruited 120 patients were randomized into an observation group and a control group, with 60 cases in each group. The control group was intervened by mind-refreshing and balance-restoring needling method, while the observation group was given additional lower-limb Frenkel exercises. Before and after treatment and at the follow-up, the ataxic lower-limb function was scored using Berg balance scale (BBS) and international cooperative ataxia rating scale (ICARS), and Barthel index (BI) was adopted to score the activities of daily living (ADL). Results: After treatment, the markedly effective rate was 70.2％ and the total effective rate was 96.5％ in the observation group, versus 39.7％ and 87.9％ in the control group, and the differences in the markedly effective rate and the total effective rate were statistically significant (P<0.01, P<0.05). The intra-group comparisons showed that the BBS, ICARS and BI scores after treatment and at the follow-up were significantly different from those before treatment in both groups (all P<0.01).There were significant differences in the BBS score between the two groups after treatment and at the follow-up (P<0.05, P<0.01); the between-group differences in the ICARS and BI scores were statistically insignificant after treatment (both P>0.05), while the between-group differences in the ICARS and BI scores were statistically significant at the follow-up (both P<0.05). The interaction effects between the scoring time of BBS and BI and the group factor were statistically significant (P<0.01, P<0.05). Conclusion: Mind-refreshing and balance-restoring needling can effectively improve the lower-limb ataxic symptoms and ADL after stroke; when combined with Fenkel exercises, this needling method can produce more significant efficacy.