RESULTS
The mean age of the patients included in the study was 53.1 ± 5.3 years. The majority consisted of patients with hemorrhagic stroke. There was no difference between the groups with respect to the duration of HSP and the mean duration was 6.7 ± 1 months. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the patients are presented in Table 1. There was no statistical difference between the groups in terms of pain, joint range of motion, and functionality before treatment. When the pretreatment and posttreatment pain parameters were compared, a significant improvement was achieved in both groups, while a statistical superiority was observed in the DN group (p = 0.02, Table 2). The results of the third month did not indicate any difference between the groups. There was a significant increase in the joint range of motion measurements after treatment in both groups (Figure 3). Comparison between groups showed that the DN group had an advantage after treatment. However, the results of the third month showed that this advantage was preserved only in the flexion and abduction movements (p = 0.025, p = 0.008; respectively; Figure 3). Although the functionality parameters evaluated by Q-DASH and FMU-ES exhibited a statistically significant improvement after the treatment in both groups, no difference was found between the groups in the results of the third month (p = 0.131, Table 3). During the study, except post needling soreness, no adverse effects were observed in the four patients who depended on DN treatment.