Acupuncture application for neurological disorders.
BACKGROUND
Acupuncture has been widely used for a range of neurological disorders. Despite its popularity, the evidence to support the use of acupuncture is contradictory.


METHODS
This review was designed to summarize and to evaluate the available evidence of acupuncture for neurological disorders.


RESULTS
Most of the reviewed studies suffer from lack of methodological rigor. Owing to paucity and poor quality of the primary studies, no firm conclusion could be drawn on the use of acupuncture for epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, ataxic disorders, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal cord injury. For stroke rehabilitation, the evidence from recent high-quality trials and previous systematic reviews is not convincing.


CONCLUSIONS
More rigorous trials are warranted to establish acupuncture's role in neurological disorders.
Lee
Hyangsook
H
Acupuncture and Meridian Science Research Center, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, Korea.
Park
Hi-Joon
HJ
Park
Jongbae
J
Kim
Mi-Ja
MJ
Hong
Meesuk
M
Yang
Jongsoo
J
Choi
Sunmi
S
Lee
Hyejung
H
D026881:Acupuncture / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000628:therapy*