Clinical Observation on the Efficacy of Hot Wax Therapy Combined with Acupotomy in the Treatment of Stage I Shoulder-Hand Syndrome

¹ Department of Rehabilitation, Traditional Chinese & Mongolian Medicine Hospital, Jungar Banner, Ordos City 010300, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China,

BAS 2026 , 4(3), 8–15; https://doi.org/10.26689/bas.v4i3.15350

© 2026 by the Authors. Licensee Whioce Publishing, Singapore. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

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Abstract

Objective: To compare the clinical efficacy differences among hot wax therapy, acupotomy therapy, and their combined regimen in treating Stage I shoulder-hand syndrome (SHS). Methods: A total of 60 post-stroke SHS Stage I patients admitted to the Rehabilitation Department of Zhungeer Banner Hospital of Traditional Chinese and Mongolian Medicine from December 2024 to December 2025 were selected and randomly assigned to three groups: the hot wax group, the acupotomy group, and the combination group, with 20 patients in each group. The hot wax group received hot wax therapy combined with conventional rehabilitation; the acupotomy group received acupotomy release combined with conventional rehabilitation; and the combination group received both hot wax therapy and acupotomy release along with conventional rehabilitation. The treatment course for all groups was 4 weeks. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Edema Evaluation Score (EES), and Fugl-Meyer Assessment (upper limb motor function) scores were compared among the three groups before treatment, after 2 weeks, and after 4 weeks of treatment. Results: After 4 weeks of treatment, all three groups showed significant reductions in VAS and EES scores and significant improvements in Fugl-Meyer upper limb motor function scores compared to before treatment (P < 0.05). Inter-group comparisons revealed that the improvement in all outcome measures in the combination group was significantly greater than that in the hot wax group and the acupotomy group after both 2 weeks and 4 weeks of treatment (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the acupotomy group demonstrated superior pain relief and edema reduction compared to the hot wax group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The combination of hot wax therapy and acupotomy is more effective in alleviating pain and edema, and in promoting the recovery of upper limb motor function and activities of daily living in Stage I SHS patients, compared to either therapy alone or conventional rehabilitation. It represents a safe and effective comprehensive treatment approach.

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