MANAGEMENT OF POST STROKE PAIN OR NEUROGENIC CLAUDICATION – ACUPUNCTURE – A PANACEA FOR BOTH

Chronic post stroke pain and neurogenic claudication are two different types of chronic pain. The pathophysiological bases of pain in these disease states are still not clear. We present one case in each type here. The first case was a case of young stroke patient who developed post stroke pain persisting for a few months. The acupuncture points, Du20, Li4, Sp 6, st36, st44, GB40, Liv 3 and a few Ah shi points were manually stimulated to relieve pain and the visual analogue scores(VAS) came down from 9/10 to 2/10. The second case was a forty-five-year-old female who was diagnosed as neurogenic claudication of the left upper limb after a thorough neuro cardiac evaluation. As pharmacotherapy failed to control pain (VAS-9/10), acupuncture was initiated in Du20, Li11, Li9, Li5, Li4 and Ex 9. The VAS score came down to 1/10. The analgesia persisted for a few months even after a two-week treatment. There were no side effects in either case. Even though successful acupuncture use has been reported in post stroke pain, this is possibly the first case of neurogenic claudication of the upper limb successfully managed with acupuncture.