Stroke patients typically just do physical therapy to improvement their movement capabilities. However, the physical training is mainly targeted for muscle, whereas the affected nervous system by stroke is never treated. For Traditional Chinese Medicine, we use acupuncture on body or scalp to improve the overall response of the nervous system. When the acupoints are carefully chosen, the acupuncture needles can help the signal transmission from the brain to the limbs, and hence improve the patient’s movement. While the needles are still inserted, an experienced acupuncturist would usually instruct the patient to do certain physical movements to train the muscles and build up the muscle memory. This kind of treatment is usually very effective and has been recognized more and more in recent years.
