A three-arm randomized controlled trial from Guangzhou Medical University found that manual acupuncture combined with conventional rehabilitation improved upper-limb motor function significantly more than sham acupuncture or rehabilitation alone in ischemic stroke patients, published in Frontiers in Neurology. Across 84 participants receiving 20 sessions over four weeks, the acupuncture group’s motor-function scores improved by 18.04 points, compared with 9.46 for sham acupuncture and 8.39 for rehabilitation alone.