Digital Acupuncture Promote Post-Stroke Motor Rehabilitation among Aging Population: A Prospective Clinical and Neuroimaging Study

Acupuncture may be a promising adjunct to western medicine for aging stroke rehabilitation clinically, but the visualized and explanatory evidence is limited in post-stroke neuroplasticity. To explore the target effects and digital evidence on neuroplasticity of acupuncture for post-stroke motor rehabilitation among aging population. Ischaemic stroke patients (n = 29) whose lesions located on right subcortical ganglia and duration within 6 weeks were asked to receive the acupuncture-intervened neuroimaging assessments, with acupuncture at GB34 and non-acupoint of GB34 (NA_GB34) on 2-week interval. Healthy controls (n = 26) were matched to receive once GB34-intervened neuroimaging assessment. Per-protocol analysis of clinical and neuroimaging was performed to investigate the digital effects of acupuncture. Specifically, voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) combined with grey relational analysis was to identify the pathological characteristics and specificity of GB34.