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. 2023 Feb 13:16:407-420.
doi: 10.2147/JPR.S396195. eCollection 2023.

Efficacy and Safety of a Novel Plum Blossom Needling with Mild Moxibustion Device for Upper Limb Pain Disorder and Motor Dysfunction in Patients with Stage 1 Post-Stroke Shoulder-Hand Syndrome: Study Protocol for a Multi-Center, Single-Blind, Randomized Sham-Controlled Trial

Xiaonan Meng #  1   2 , Jie Sun #  3 , Qi Liu #  4 , Yueping Huang  5 , Xianwen Qiu  6 , David Jung Seto  7   8 , Ying Li  3 , Liping Wang  2 , Chunying Li  2 , Sen Gao  9 , Haikuo Yu  10 , Jiping Zhao  1 , Baixiao Zhao  1
Affiliations

Efficacy and Safety of a Novel Plum Blossom Needling with Mild Moxibustion Device for Upper Limb Pain Disorder and Motor Dysfunction in Patients with Stage 1 Post-Stroke Shoulder-Hand Syndrome: Study Protocol for a Multi-Center, Single-Blind, Randomized Sham-Controlled Trial

Xiaonan Meng et al. J Pain Res. .

Abstract

Background: Post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome (PS-SHS), a common neurological comorbidity after stroke episodes, poses a grave threat on patients' functional recovery. Preliminary trials have demonstrated that the acupuncture and moxibustion treatment, including a dermal acupuncture tapping method known as plum blossom needling (PBN) can improve pain and motor dysfunctions in patients with PS-SHS. However, there are few reports describing simultaneous moxibustion treatment in combination with PBN. Hence, a novel plum blossom needle device with mild moxibustion (PBNMM) was developed to evaluate its potential efficacy and safety in patients with stage 1 PS-SHS.

Materials and methods: This multicenter, sham-controlled, randomized controlled trial (RCT) will recruit 102 eligible patients with stage 1 PS-SHS from three clinical centers, randomly allocated in a ratio of 1:1:1 to the PBNMM group, PBNMM with no moxa smoke (PBNMM-NMS) group and sham control group. Patients in each group will receive a 30-minute treatment once per day for 4 weeks, with 5 consecutive sessions per week, for a total of 20 sessions. The primary outcome measure will be defined as the decreased scores from baseline in the visual analog scale (VAS) assessment at week 4. Secondary outcome measures will include scores on the Fugl-Meyer Assessment of the Upper Extremity Scale (FMA-UE), the Modified Barthel Index (MBI), and the somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) records. All outcomes will be evaluated at baseline and weeks 4, 5, 6 and 10, and the intention-to-treat analysis will be applied.

Conclusion: This study aims to provide robust evidence for the efficacy and safety of the PBNMM for PS-SHS treatment, as well as the specific impact of moxibustion smoke itself in dealing with PS-SHS.

Clinical trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry No. ChiCTR2200062441. Registered on 7 August 2022.

Keywords: mild moxibustion; novel device; plum blossom needling; post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome; protocol; randomized controlled trial.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that there is no any conflicts of interest in this study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) conventional plum blossom needling (PBN); (B) novel plum blossom needle with mild moxibustion (PBNMM).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Study flow chart.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The exterior view (A) and the interior view (B) of PBNMM and sham-PBNMM devices.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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