Acupuncture enhanced anti-parkinsonian effect of levodopa in patients with Parkinson's disease

Since its introduction in the 1970s, levodopa has remained the most effective treatment for the motor symptoms of PD. However, as PD patients receive chronic treatment with levodopa they gradually develop two main clinical phenomena: fluctuation in motor response and a variety of involuntary movements, known as levodopa-induced dyskinesia. The frequency of these motor complications has been estimated between 40-60%, after approximately 5 years of levodopa medication, but increase to 90% after 10 years of treatment.  Those adverse effects of levodopa medication are often disturbing and have huge impact on quality of life of PD patients. In China, combination of acupuncture and levodopa is often used to treat patients with PD. Many clinical studies reported that combined treatment had better therapeutic effects than levodopa treatment alone. The combined treatment showed prolonged and better alleviation of motor symptoms. 

Reference:

Chang XH et al., Observation on therapeutic effect of acupuncture combined with medicine on Parkinson disease. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2008 Sep;28(9):645-7.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18822978