Statistical distribution of acupoint prescriptions for sensory-motor impairments in post-stroke subjects

OBJECTIVE: To statistically describe the characteristics of acupoint selection for therapeutic intervention in post-stroke subjects based on pre-modern and modern literatures. METHODS: Twelve classic textbooks in Chinese medicine and fourteen research articles had their acupoints listed and organized under each author in a chronological manner. A total of 84 different acupoints were collected from pre-modern and modern authors. Descriptive analysis of the frequency counts of acupoints was performed for both groups of premodern and modern authors. Association analysis on acupoint prescriptions was performed among pre-modern, modern, and pre-modern versus modern authors. RESULTS: No significant difference was observed between premodern and modern authors regarding the frequency of acupoints grouped by channel (P=0.482) or channel nature (pre-modern: yang=76.9%, yin= 23.1%; modern: yang=77.3%, yin=22.7%; P=0.966). Considering all authors, only 1 (1.2%) acupoint (LI-4) presented the highest frequency with 12 (44.4%) authors reporting its use for sensory-motor impairments, and 49 (58.3%) acupoints were prescribed only once. CONCLUSION: It was demonstrated that pre-modern and modern authors selected channels for intervention in a similar fashion. Variability among acupoint prescriptions is higher among pre-modern authors as compared to modern works for stroke-related sensory-motor impairments.