뇌졸중 후 견수증후군에 대한 도침요법의 효과 체계적 문헌고찰 및 메타분석

The Effect of Acupotomy for Poststroke Shoulder Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the clinical potential of acupotomy for Shoulder-Hand Syndrome (SHS) after stroke by performing a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods We searched four international databases (Embase, PubMed, The Cochrane Library, CNKI) and five Korean online databases (OASIS, RISS, KMbase, KISS, DBpia) for literature published up to September 30, 2025. We included studies that were RCTs using acupotomy as the primary intervention for SHS after stroke. A total of 153 papers were initially searched, and 8 RCTs were finally selected for meta-analysis. The risk of bias (RoB) was assessed using the Cochrane Handbook's RoB 2.0 tool. We performed meta-analysis on the Effective Rate (ER), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), and Edema Score using Cochrane Review Manager 5.4.1. Results The 8 selected RCTs included a total of 449 participants. The meta-analysis results showed that the acupotomy treatment group demonstrated a statistically sig-nificant improvement across all assessed outcomes compared to the control groups(acupuncture, rehabilitation, analgesics, etc.). Effective Rate (ER): acupotomy sig-nificantly increased the Effective Rate (RR 1.16, 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.26, p=0.001) Pain Reduction (VAS): acupotomy resulted in greater pain reduction (MD -1.67, 95% CI, -2.06 to –1.28, p<0.00001) Upper Extremity Motor Function (FMA): acupotomy sig-nificantly improved motor function (MD 6.28, 95% CI, 3.05 to 9.51, p=0.0001) Edema Score: acupotomy significantly reduced upper extremity edema (SMD -1.04, 95% CI, -1.83 to -0.25, p=0.010) Conclusions Our study concludes that acupotomy is an effective intervention for improving the Effective Rate, reducing pain and edema, and recovering upper ex-tremity motor function in patients with Shoulder-Hand Syndrome after stroke However, high heterogeneity was observed in the meta-analysis for continuous variables (VAS, FMA, Edema Score), suggesting that further high-quality RCTs with standardized protocols are still required to strengthen the clinical evidence.