Shoulder-hand syndrome is one of the major disabling factors for stroke patients, which seriously affects their physical and psychological health as well as their quality of life. Currently, there are many non-pharmacologic treatments used to treat post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome, but there is still some confusion about which non-pharmacologic treatment modality is more effective in clinical practice.

To provide evidence-based support for clinical decision-making, this network meta-analysis evaluates the efficacy of seven non-pharmacological treatments in improving outcomes for post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome, pain as measured by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and scores on the simplified Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) .

A computerized search of databases including CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP, China Biomedical Literature Service System, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library was conducted for randomized controlled trials on non-pharmacological treatments for post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome up to June 2023. Two researchers independently screened the literature and extracted data, performing the network meta-analysis using RevMan 5.3 and Stata 15.0.

The analysis included 62 studies involving 5 090 patients, assessing interventions such as acupuncture, herbal fumigation, extracorporeal shockwave therapy, moxibustion, herbal hot compress, electrical stimulation, and herbal soak. Results showed that all seven non-pharmacological treatments were superior to the control group in improving overall effectiveness, and FMA scores (P<0.05). Except for moxibustion, the six non-pharmacological treatments were superior to the control group in improving VAS scores in patients with shoulder hand syndrome (P<0.05). In terms of improving overall effectiveness, the cumulative ranking probability area (SUCRA) scores for the treatments were: acupuncture (86.1%), herbal soak (77.1%), herbal fumigation (54.7%), extracorporeal shockwave (53.1%), hot compress (49.0%), electrical stimulation (48.4%), and moxibustion (31.1%), with conventional control treatment at (0.4%). For VAS score improvement, the SUCRA scores were: hot compress (81.3%), herbal soak (78.4%), acupuncture (76.7%), electrical stimulation (58.4%), herbal fumigation (52.7%), extracorporeal shockwave (32.9%), moxibustion (18.1%), and conventional control (1.5%). For FMA score improvement, the SUCRA scores were: herbal soak (90.6%), acupuncture (83.5%), herbal fumigation (59.9%), electrical stimulation (59.8%), extracorporeal shockwave (42.3%), moxibustion (39.7%), hot compress (24.1%), and conventional control (0.2%) .

Compared to conventional treatments, the use or combination of non-pharmacological treatments yields better therapeutic outcomes for treating post-stroke shoulder-hand syndrome. However, due to limitations in the original studies, these conclusions need to be substantiated by further clinical trials.