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.