SEATTLE (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- From treating pain to easing nausea, acupuncture is becoming more common in the United States. Now, scientists are impressed with how the ancient therapy can help stroke patients get back to a more normal life.

She may be 94, but Margaret Gallinetti is the one caring for others -- even after she had a stroke last year. The stroke made it hard for Gallinetti to move the right side of her mouth and left her right eyelid droopy. She says she couldn't talk or eat at all.

So she took a chance on a not-so-mainstream treatment for stroke patients -- acupuncture. "I thought, 'Well, let’s try.'"

Acupuncturist Angie Hughes says, “The sooner you can get in and get acupuncture, the better the recovery potential.”

Hughes supervises an acupuncture clinic at the retirement community Providence Mount St. Vincent in Seattle. She’s seen the treatment work firsthand. “We’re getting an increased circulation to limbs, so therefore increased mobility we're getting. Seen a lot of pain relief and a lot less numbness and tingling in the affected limbs.”

Several studies show patients do well with acupuncture, especially during the first few weeks after a stroke. Much of the findings are from China where the treatment is regularly used.

Without acupuncture, Gallinetti says she wouldn’t be able to get out and about. “Probably just sit home like a lot of them do and never go anywhere.”

While more research is needed, patients like Gallinetti say the only proof they need is the way they feel.

The National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization have both given their formal approval of using acupuncture to help patients recover after a stroke.