Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medicine that has been viewed with suspicion in the west. Many Chinese doctors h such as stroke. Recently, scientific studies of the efegts of acupuncture have begun in China and almost all trials as a treatment for stroke have been positive Another study the UK that several other countries had found positive results too. The Cochrane Collaboration, an international non-profit organization conducted a review of the benefits of acupuncture. They found that those who received treatmenttwithin 30 days of stroke were much more likely to make a positive recover than those who were not treated. Sham acupuncture was also conducted and it was found that the differences between and .real. acupuncture were small. This may be because of the placebo effect whereby patients believe in the treatment and positive effects are experienced