Acupuncture – Post-stroke aphasia recovery

Acupuncture rivals drug therapy in aphasia recovery after stroke

Acupuncture is effective for the treatment of aphasia after stroke . Patients who received acupuncture treatment recovered their ability to communicate through speech and writing at a similar rate to patients on drug therapy. More importantly, a combination of acupuncture therapy and drug therapy produced optimally positive patient outcomes. Acupuncture, as a stand-alone therapy, produced an overall effective rate of 46%, and Donepezil (a drug that improves verbal communication ability, impaired post-stroke)) produced an overall effective rate of 50% of patients participating in the clinical trial.