Abstract

Background and Purpose : Hemiplegic upper extremity is a problem frequently encountered in the rehabilitation of patients with stroke. In Korean traditional medicine, moxibustion has been used clinically in treatment of stroke patients with hemiplegia. So far, its efficacy has not been proven clinically. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the moxibustion in treating hemiplegic upper extremity in stroke patients. Design : Randomized Control Trial. Subjects and Methods : Forty hemiplegic stroke patients admitted to Kyunghee oriental medicine hospital were randomized into the treatment with standard physiotheraphy combined with Moxibustion-group or Control-group with standard physiotherapy alone. It took them 2-5 weeks from the onset to start this study. Moxibustion was applied at LI4(合谷), LI11(曲池), TE3(中渚), TE5(外關) in hemiplegic hand, once a day for 2weeks. The effect of treatment on hemiplegic upper extremity was assessed using Fugl-Myer motor scale, Motricity Index and Modified Barthel Index(drinking/feeding, dressing upper body, grooming) Results : These 2 groups had comparable clinical characteristics; sex, age, plegic side (Rt., Lt.), pretreatment impairment. After two weeks, patients in the moxibustion group perfomed better on Fugl-Myer test and Motricity index test. The differences were significant.(P=0.038, 0.002) But Results on the Modified Barthel Index revealed no effect.(P=0.348) Conclusion : This results suggest that moxibustion is an effective treatment for improvement of motor function of hemiplegic upper extremity.

Keywords

• stroke;
• hemiplegic upper extremity;
• moxibustion