Effects and Mechanisms of Acupuncture Combined with Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation on Neural Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury: Progress and Prospects

Table 1

Effect of acupuncture on the repair of spinal cord injury.

Study	Number of patients	Randomized, type of clinical trial	Acupuncture intervention	Control intervention	Effect indicators
[19]	100	Yes, RCT	EA (SI3 and B62; 75 Hz, 10 mV)	Usual SCI rehabilitation care	Neurologic and functional recovery↑, ASIA and FIM scores↑
[20]	48	Yes, RCT	Acupuncture (GV and the Back-shu acupoints according to the injury region)+electric pulsing stimulation (0.1~1 mA, 20 minutes)	Acupuncture (GB30, ST36, GB39, and SP6)+rehabilitation training	Modified Barthel index↑, function comprehensive assessment↑
[2]	1	No, a case report	Scalp acupuncture (DU24, DU19, DU18, DU21)	Not applicable	Motor function↑, neural plasticity↑
[21]	10	No, controlled trial	EA (LI4 and LI11; 5 Hz)	Not applicable	Activated C6 and C2 cervical spinal cord levels, functional MRI

Abbreviations: RCT: randomized controlled trial; SI3: Houxi; B62: Shenmai; ASIA: American Spinal Injury Association; GV: Dumai; GB30: Huantiao; ST36: Zusanli; GB39: Xuanzhong; SP6: Sanyinjiao; Ex-B2: Jiaji; LI4: Hegu; LI11: Quchi; DU24: Shenting; DU19: Houding; DU18: Qiangjian; DU21: Qianding.