Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2005; 10: 15
To explore feasibility and acceptability issues of Marma therapy for stroke rehabilitation, the appropriateness of measures and to provide data to determine the numbers needed for a trial.
Thirty stroke patients were recruited into a non-randomised controlled trial, allocated evenly between intervention and control arms. The intervention group received usual care and three 45-min therapy sessions per week for 6 weeks post stroke; the control group received usual care. Thirteen intervention group patients were interviewed to determine acceptability. The primary outcome measure was the Barthel Index (BI); other measures included the NIH Stroke Scale, the Motricity Index (MI) and the Trunk Control Test (TCT). A blinded research assistant assessed patients at baseline, 6 weeks and 3 months.
Recruitment to the study was slow, 0.5 per week. However, the treatment was believed to be profitable by patients and was acceptable. The BI did not show any significant difference between the intervention and control groups at follow-up. Secondary measures did not show significant differences in the change from baseline. However, significant improvements for within-group scores were shown at 6 weeks for the MI and TCT, and 12 weeks for the MI.
The results show that an RCT of Marma therapy for stroke is both feasible and acceptable. The measures used would need further consideration. Due to the small sample size, it is not possible to state whether Marma therapy confers additional benefit; however, there is sufficient ambiguity in the data to merit further investigation.
Funded by the HSBC Foundation.
