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 aa almost all trials as a tr foregir: have been posiuve Another study the UK that several other countries had found positive reaults too. "a The Cochrane Collaboration, an international non-profit organization conducted a review of the benefits of acupuncture. They found that those who iva "team ntwithin 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 atients believe in the treatment and positive effects are experienced