Both acupuncture-rehabilitation (A-R) and conventional rehabilitation (CR) improved language function in post-ischemic-stroke motor aphasia, with A-R showing superior efficacy, and its mechanism likely involves activating left hemisphere regions, suppressing right hemisphere activity, and restoring hemispheric balance.
Compared with healthy controls, patients with post-stroke motor aphasia showed reduced spontaneous brain activity in precuneus and postcentral regions.
Patients showed enhanced functional connectivity between the left Broca's area and several right hemisphere regions compared with healthy controls.
Both the A-R and CR groups showed significant improvement in language function after four weeks of intervention.
The A-R group achieved greater gains in AQ and spontaneous speech scores than the CR group.
A-R treatment was associated with increased low-frequency fluctuation amplitude in the left inferior temporal gyrus and higher regional homogeneity in the left precentral gyrus relative to CR.
Functional connectivity between the left Broca's area and the right precentral gyrus decreased after A-R treatment.
Activity in the right precentral gyrus was negatively correlated with listening comprehension.
The authors conclude that A-R therapy likely works by activating left hemisphere regions, suppressing right hemisphere activity, and restoring hemispheric balance.
This study looked at whether adding scalp acupuncture to standard rehabilitation helps people who have lost the ability to produce speech (motor aphasia) after an ischemic stroke. Twenty-six patients were randomly assigned to either conventional rehabilitation with language training or the same rehabilitation plus scalp acupuncture for four weeks. Their brains were scanned with fMRI before and after, and compared with 26 healthy people. Both groups improved in language ability, but the group that also received acupuncture improved more in overall aphasia scores and spontaneous speech. Brain scans showed that, before treatment, patients had altered activity and stronger connections between the left language area (Broca's area) and regions on the right side of the brain. After acupuncture plus rehabilitation, activity rose in certain left-hemisphere regions, and the connection between Broca's area and the right precentral gyrus decreased. The authors interpret this as a shift toward a more balanced use of the two brain hemispheres. This research suggests that acupuncture added to rehabilitation may support language recovery after stroke and may do so by reshaping brain activity. However, the study was small (26 patients), lasted only four weeks, and the brain-mechanism explanation is an interpretation of imaging patterns, so larger studies would be needed to confirm the findings.
Liu T, Ren M, Wang J, Wang Y, Wang C, Tang Q, et al.. (2026). The effect of acupuncture-rehabilitation therapy on brain functional plasticity in motor aphasia after ischemic stroke: a randomized clinical neuroimaging trial.. Brain imaging and behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-026-01155-5