Due to its high mortality rate, stroke often leads to various degrees of sequelae in most patients, which significantly impacts the quality of their daily lives. Modern rehabilitation therapy is time-consuming and slow to take effect, making it difficult to maintain long-term patient cooperation and limiting its overall benefits. Acupuncture has been clearly proven to be an effective stimulation method, and Huatan Tongluo decoction has been shown to eliminate and resolve phlegm, promote blood circulation, and invigorate the collaterals. The combination of the two is widely used in the rehabilitation treatment of stroke sequelae. Improving lost bodily functions can also help repair the injured nerve, complement modern medical treatments, and enhance the treatment compliance of patients, which has become the focus of clinical research. This paper summarizes related studies on the use of acupuncture combined with Huatan Tongluo decoction in the treatment of common stroke sequelae, including dyskinesia, dysphagia, cognitive impairment, poststroke insomnia, and depression, and briefly analyzes its mechanism. This review aims to reveal the action characteristics of acupuncture in multi-targets, multi-layers, and multi-pathways. It also highlights current research limitations to provide a theoretical basis and method reference for the rehabilitation treatment of patients in the future.
Wang et al. (2025) studied this question.